asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent of our territorial waters.

In accordance with section 3 of the Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 1959, Irish territorial waters extend to three nautical miles from the nearest point of the baseline.

I know this sounds like a stupidly simple question, but nobody seems to be able to tell me what the extent of these waters is. Do I take it that we are now going to have a 12-mile territorial limit if the proposals in the Convention on the Law of the Sea are agreed upon?

The draft Convention on the Law of the Sea envisages the right of coastal states to establish the extent of their territorial seas up to a limit not exceeding 12 miles.