Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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31. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on recent French naval exercises off the coast of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34165/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Foreign Affairs is aware of the French naval exercise that took place in late June and early July this year in an area of the Atlantic Ocean, off the French coast. As close EU partners, Ireland and France remained in close contact throughout the period of the exercise.

The full extent of the area that could potentially have been affected included a small piece of the southern extremity of Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), approximately 200km southwest of our territorial waters. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) was informed of the exercises via standard procedures and the Department of Transport issued a Marine Notice to this effect.

The French authorities subsequently confirmed to the Government that no French naval vessels would be within the Irish EEZ during the exercise.

Such exercises do on occasion occur in international waters, including in a country’s EEZ. Under international law, all States are entitled to freedom of navigation in another state’s EEZ. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires that, in the exercise of these freedoms, states ‘shall have due regard to the rights and duties of the coastal state.’ States are not legally obliged, in most cases, either to inform the coastal authorities of any proposed naval exercises, nor to seek permission. This is not an infringement of our national territory.