Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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211. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the Government's position on Rockall and surrounding waters; his approach to Britain's claim of sovereignty and to 22km territorial waters off the islet; and the steps he is taking to assert Irish interests in this part of the North Atlantic. [25675/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Rockall is a small, uninhabitable rock located approximately 160 nautical miles west of the Scottish islands of St. Kilda, and 230 nautical miles to the north-west of Donegal. The UK claimed sovereignty over Rockall in 1955, and sought to formally annex it as part of Scotland under its 1972 Island of Rockall Act.

The consistent position of successive Irish Governments is that Ireland does not recognise Britain’s claim of sovereignty over Rockall. Accordingly, Ireland does not accept that a 12 nautical mile (22km) territorial sea exists around Rockall. We understand that the UK takes a different view. In addition, Rockall, and similar rocks and skerries, have no significance for generating an exclusive economic zone or establishing legal claims to the continental shelf. This position is reflected in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which 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.’

Reaching an agreement on issues relating to Rockall remains an important issue for the Government and we are in ongoing contact with the relevant Scottish and UK authorities in this regard.