Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 632: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his plans for Ireland to join the UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1288/11]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 2 December 2004. The Convention sets out rules on the immunities of states, and the property of states, from the civil jurisdiction of the courts of other states. It does not address the jurisdiction of courts in criminal proceedings. The Convention is based on work carried out over a number of years by the International Law Commission which laid the basis for subsequent negotiations between states at the UN General Assembly. The Convention was opened for signature at New York on 17 January 2005. To date just 11 states have adhered to the Convention and, according to its terms, it will not enter into force until this number has reached thirty.

The Convention raises a number of complex legal issues that require careful consideration. It is currently under examination within my Department. While this examination has not yet concluded it already seems clear that it will be necessary to enact legislation if the State is to become a party to the Convention. Once my Department's examination is complete it is then intended to consult other relevant Departments and Offices.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 633: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the State will become party to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1511/11]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR) is intended, when it comes into force, to set up a mechanism that will make it possible for individuals or groups of individuals to submit a complaint to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in regard to alleged violations of their economic, social and cultural rights by a State Party to the Optional Protocol. It does not create any new substantive rights.

Following consideration by the UN Human Rights Council, the text of the Optional Protocol was presented to the UN General Assembly, which adopted the text by consensus on 10 December 2008.

The Optional Protocol opened for signature in New York in September 2009. Ireland was represented at the opening ceremony. So far thirty five (35) States have signed. Nine of the twenty seven EU member States have signed at this point. Three states have ratified the Optional Protocol: Ecuador, Mongolia and Spain. The Optional Protocol can only come into force three months after the deposit with the UN Secretary-General of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession.

Inter-departmental consultations have been ongoing since the process of negotiating the Optional Protocol began, with my Department playing a coordination role. Most recently, an inter-departmental meeting was hosted by my Department on 14 December 2010 which discussed the possibility of Ireland signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol. It is expected that further inter-departmental consultations on this matter will take place in 2011.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 634: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland needs to amend the submission made to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in view of Denmark's submission in December 2010; if his attention has been drawn to other countries making a submission, in relation to the ownership or territorial rights of Rockhall Island and the Rockhall-Hatton Basin in the Atlantic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1582/11]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Rockall is a small uninhabitable rock, 25 x 30 metres wide, located approximately 160 nautical miles west of the Scottish islands of St. Kilda and 230 nautical miles to the north-west of Donegal. It marks a point at which the Rockall Bank, part of the very large Hatton-Rockall area of continental shelf extending under the north-east Atlantic Ocean, protrudes 21 metres above sea level. During the 1960s and 1970s the issue of Rockall was a source of legal and political controversy in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over Rockall and has sought to formally annex it under its 1972 Island of Rockall Act.

While Ireland has not recognised British sovereignty over Rockall, it has never sought to claim sovereignty for itself. The consistent position of successive Irish Governments has been that Rockall and similar rocks and skerries have no significance for establishing legal claims to mineral rights in the adjacent seabed and to fishing rights in the surrounding seas.

During the course of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which took place from 1973 to 1982, Ireland worked hard to achieve agreement on this principle. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was adopted at the conclusion of the Conference on 10 December 1982, provides at Article 121, paragraph 3 that: "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf." Rockall falls into precisely this category.

In 1988, Ireland and the UK reached agreement on the delimitation of areas of the continental shelf between the two countries, stretching out up to 500 nautical miles from their respective coastlines. This included the division of the Hatton-Rockall area of continental shelf on which Rockall is situated, although under the terms of the Law of the Sea Convention the location of Rockall was irrelevant to the determination of the boundary. According to that determination, Rockall is situated to the north of the boundary agreed with the UK in 1988 and lies outside the zone claimed by Ireland.

As with any claim to continental shelf lying beyond 200 nautical miles from shore, the UN Convention requires that Ireland and the UK submit their claims for examination to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. However, the claims to the Hatton-Rockall shelf agreed between Ireland and the UK are not accepted by Iceland or Denmark (on behalf of the Faroe Islands), which make their own claims.

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 submitted 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 and is currently being studied by officials in my own Department and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

The Commission's rules of procedure prevent consideration by the Commission of a submission relating to 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. The question of amending Ireland's submission does not arise at this stage. Instead the four states will continue to meet at regular intervals and the Government continues 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, following consideration by the UN Commission, 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 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 the division of this area.