Ciarán O'Driscoll: Why 'desolate, despairing' Rockall is so important

The 'desolate, despairing' rock has been the focus of a decades-old dispute. Ciaran O'Driscoll explains why it's so important

Crew of the LE William Butler Yeats boarding the Spanish vessel detained off Rockall in July 2020.

In 1972, the then Scottish Labour peer, Lord Kennet, himself a former seaman, described Rockall as "a dreadful place. There can be no place more desolate, more despairing, more awful to see in the world".

Despite its remoteness, it has been the focus of a decades-old dispute over claims of sovereignty and access to fishing rights around it, as highlighted earlier this month with the incident involving the Greencastle-based vessel Northern Celt.