Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 197: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the claim by Denmark and the Faroe Islands to the United Nations for a portion of the North Sea continental shelf which is part of the Rockall area in the Atlantic claimed by Ireland; the impact this will have on Ireland's claim; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47224/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea each State Party to the Convention is entitled to continental shelf for 200 nautical lines from its coast. States with an extended continental shelf that stretches beyond 200 nautical miles are obliged to lodge a claim with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf within 10 years of becoming party to the Convention. Ireland claims continental shelf extending beyond 200 nautical miles both to the west and to the south of the country. For the purposes of our claims we have divided the extended shelf into three sectors. One of these three sectors lies in part of the Hatton-Rockall Area of the North-East Atlantic, which extends up to 500 nautical miles from the State's west coast. There is an agreed Ireland-UK boundary here but it is not accepted by Iceland or the Faroe Islands, which make their own claims in this area. The four countries have met regularly since 2001 in an effort to resolve the overlapping claims issue, but to date have been unable to reach agreement. The 10-year deadline for the making of submissions to the UN Commission expired for Ireland in May 2009. The Government therefore lodged the national claim for this area at the end of March 2009. The deadline for the Faroe Islands is 2014 (because Denmark, which is responsible for the foreign relations of the Faroe Islands, only became a party to the Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2004) and the authorities in the Faroes had kept us informed of their intention to make their submission this year. That submission was lodged with the Commission in New York on 2 December last.

The Commission's rules of procedure prevent consideration of a submission concerning a disputed area without the consent of all the states concerned. Accordingly the purpose of making submissions in accordance with the deadline, as Ireland, the UK and the Faroes have all now done, is to stop the clock on the deadline and preserve each country's legal position. In the meantime, the four states intend to keep the matter under regular review and will meet again in the New Year. We continue to work for the creation of conditions that will permit consideration of Ireland's submission by the Commission as soon as possible.

The State's continental shelf has already been successfully extended beyond 200 nautical miles in the area to the west of the Porcupine Bank where 39,000 square kilometres of additional seabed has recently been designated under the 1968 Continental Shelf Act. Together with France, Spain and the UK, we have also made a successful submission to the UN Commission in relation to a large area of seabed in the Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay and the four countries have recently begun discussions on its division between them.