Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Energy why the base lines of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf extending from Northern Ireland are not clearly defined on the map, appendix 14, in the Report to Parliament, Development of the Oil and Gas Resources of the United Kingdom 1978, since the map, appendix 13, which shows the sedimentary basins in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf, indicates that the Rathlin trough underlies the waters of Lough Foyle, and also the land surface of parts of the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic.
§ Dr. MabonBoth maps show the limits of areas designated by Orders-in-Council under the Continental Shelf Act 1964 rather than the limits of those parts of the Continental Shelf which appertain to the United Kingdom under international law. There is, therefore, no question of their indicating Continental Shelf base lines. As both maps show, neither the waters of Lough Foyle nor the land areas of the United Kingdom or the Irish Republic lie within an area designated under the 1964 Act.