asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the determination, if any, made by the Law of the Sea Conference on the nature and extent of islands which can generate exclusive territorial waters; and if he will state the implication of such determination on Britain's claim to ownership of Rockall.

Negotiations at the Law of the Sea Conference are still continuing and the next session of it will resume in New York on 2nd August. No decisions have been taken in relation to any individual issues before the conference the object of which is to produce a comprehensive convention on the law of the sea.

The whole question of the maritime jurisdiction and status of islands is one of the issues before the conference but any determination of the conference would have no implication regarding the ownership of islands or rocks such as Rockall.

At the end of the fourth session a revised single negotiating text was produced by the chairmen of the three main committees and this will form the basis for discussion at the next session of the conference in August. Copies of this text will be made available in the Dáil Library.

If the conference adopted the provisions relating to islands as they now appear in the revised single negotiating text Rockall could not claim an exclusive economic zone or Continental Shelf, and the Irish delegation will continue to support the inclusion of provisions of this nature in the convention.

Acknowledging that this is what we hope will be the outcome, I think the Parliamentary Secretary will have seen recently some expert in the area of international law suggesting that because we did not make a claim in the same fashion as did Britain to the island of Rockall, we may in fact have conceded. Has the Parliamentary Secretary seen that report?

Yes, I saw that opinion. Basically he said that more than 20 years of apparent acquiescence in the British annexation of Rockall had left us with no claim of that kind. But that has not answered the question whether Rockall itself can or cannot generate a jurisdiction of its own. The single negotiating text to which I referred specifically excludes uninhabitable rocks from the definition of islands which are capable of generating their own jurisdiction.

Would the Parliamentary Secretary not recognise, at the same time—while that negotiating text is probably what we hope will be adopted—that, in the nature of things—having regard to some views of international lawyers—it would have been and might still be prudent on the part of the Government to protect our flanks by at least stating a formal claim in case that negotiating text is not adopted?

It might or might not be prudent. My feeling would be against it but I will pass on the Deputy's suggestion.