§ 2.43 p.m.
Lord CAMPBELL of CROYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make a Statement on the right to extract minerals and hydro-carbons from the Continental Shelf in the vicinity of Rockall.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, areas of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf to the West of the Hebrides and surrounding the Island of Rockall were designated under the Continental Shelf Act 1964 in 1971 and 1974. Holders of exploration licences are free to exercise their exploration rights within designated areas. No production licences have yet been issued in the vicinity of Rockall.
Lord CAMPBELL of CROYMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for that reply. I trust that the dispute that has arisen with the Irish Government can be settled amicably. Can the noble Lord give an assurance that in the mean-time there need be no delay in the exploration work relating to the blocks which have been allocated recently to BP in the area contested by the Irish Republic? And can the noble Lord confirm that in the past six years, since the British delineation of the Continental Shelf in that area, no dissent whatever was registered by the Irish Government until a few days ago?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I can confirm that there will be no unavoidable delay in allowing exploration and, where licensed, production to proceed. As to the point on arbitration, we have conveyed to the Government of the Republic of Ireland our view that the dispute should be submitted to some form of third party settlement of a judicial nature. I would wish to give attention to the third point and provide the noble Lord with a specific and precise answer.
§ The Earl of LAUDERDALEMy Lords could the noble Lord tell the House what is the basis of the Irish claim?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, not without considerable notice. This is not only an international claim; it is also an Irish one.
§ Lord AVEBURYMy Lords, is not the basis of the British claim merely that slightly more than 10 years ago a helicopter owned by the United Kingdom landed on this rock in the middle of the Atlantic, and we then announced that it belonged to the United Kingdom? Is not that a rather artificial concept, and may not a way out of the dispute be for us and the Irish jointly to agree that the ownership of the resources in the Continental Shelf surrounding Rockall should be vested in the United Nations, as a contribution by the United Kingdom towards a solution of the problem of ownership of the deep ocean resources?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, the concept might well be artificial if the facts were precisely as the noble Lord has advanced them. They are not quite as he has informed the House. It would take a little time to give a full account of the history of this island. I notice that The Times has been engaged in helping us on this matter. The noble Lord can take it that the British claim is well founded in law. The second point that he made is, of course, a very helpful one. I have said that we have conveyed to the Government of the Republic our willingness to proceed to arbitration on a judicial basis. As to the possibility of certain areas throughout the world, perhaps areas around islands of this nature, being sequestrated for international purposes, this is a continuing matter of discussion in the United Nations Law of the Sea Conference. I think the noble Lord will agree with me that so far at least the United Kingdom has proved eminently ready to consider any proposal on those lines, not confined specifically to islands, but generally.
Lord CAMPBELL of CROYMy Lords, will the noble Lord confirm that the Irish Government's claim appears to ignore completely the islands off the West 8 of our coast, together containing many thousands of population, and to be based entirely on the coastline? Will he confirm that these islands are just as much part of Scotland as the mainland, and that any proposition of this kind, if it were to be sustained, would raise a very serious issue for other countries in a similar situation, and, of course, especially for archipelagos?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, the noble Lord is quite right. The Irish claim, at least in part, is based on precisely that: they wish to measure the distance between the mainland of the United Kingdom—that is to say, in this case the mainland of Scotland—and Rockall, from the land mass, ignoring the fact that the Western Isles and the Outer Hebrides are very much part of Scotland and of the United Kingdom.
§ The Earl of LAUDERDALEMy Lords, will the noble Lord enlarge on what he has said and tell us this simply for the information of the House? Since he now admits that this Irish claim has, at any rate, a geographical argument behind it, does it also have a geological argument and does it have an historical argument?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I would, of course, dispute that the Irish claim had valid argument on any of those three grounds, but this is surely a matter for fairly prolonged argument, especially in this connection. I would simply say that, on geographical grounds—in which the noble Earl is perhaps more interested than any of us, and certainly most competent to speak—a simple measurement would show that the island is within the sovereignty of Britain on measurable geographical grounds. As to history, I would not, as I said before, without very long notice, engage in any historical points involving myself and my cousins the Irish.
§ Lord LOVATMy Lords, can the noble Lord indicate the population of Rockall?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSYes, my Lords, with great precision—nil.