Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the changes that have been made to the seabed sovereignty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46824/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention permits each state with a coast to claim a continental shelf of 200 nautical miles from its coastline, subject to the right of neighbouring coastal states. Beyond the 200 mile limit, continental shelf rights may be claimed only in accordance with rules set out in the Convention. Ireland claims continental shelf extending beyond the standard 200 nautical mile entitlement both to the west and to the south of the country. The Convention requires that these claims must be examined by the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. For the purposes of our claims we have divided the extended shelf into three sectors.

The first sector is to the south-west of the country near the Porcupine Abyssal Plain, an area which is approximately half the size of the State's land territory. It was the subject of Ireland's first submission to the Commission. The Commission issued recommendations in 2007. These confirmed Ireland's entitlement in this sector and set out details of where the new outer limit there should be established. The area involved is approx. 39,000 square kilometres, which is a very satisfactory outcome. The Government made an Order under the Continental Shelf Act 1968 on 31 March last which formally establishes the area concerned as Irish continental shelf.

The second claim is in the Celtic Sea, where there are unresolved boundary issues with the UK, France and Spain. The four countries made a joint submission for this 80,000 square kilometre area in 2006. Last March the UN Commission confirmed this claim and the question of establishing bilateral boundaries in this sector is now under consideration by the four countries.

Ireland also claims part of the Hatton-Rockall Area of the North-East Atlantic, which extends up to 500 nautical miles from the coast. There is an agreed Ireland-UK boundary here but it is not accepted by Iceland or Denmark/the Færoe Islands, which make their own claims. The four have met regularly since 2001 in an effort to resolve the overlapping claims issue but to date have been unable to reach agreement. The Convention rules required that Ireland lodge its claim with the Commission by May of this year and this was done at the end of March. While the Commission's rules of procedure prevent consideration of this submission without the consent of all the states concerned, its lodgement at this time stops the clock on the deadline and preserves Ireland's legal position. In the meantime, the four states intend to keep the matter under regular review and we will continue to work for the creation of conditions that will permit consideration of the submission by the Commission as soon as possible.