Irish Examiner view: Time for Ireland to claim Rockall

Fishing dispute escalates as impact of Brexit bites

The boarding by a British patrol boat of an Irish fishing vessel in international waters is a regrettable, disturbing, and unwarranted escalation of the ongoing dispute over Rockall, an uninhabitable granite islet situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. 

Barely had the new year dawned than a Marine Scotland patrol boat blocked a Donegal fishing vessel from entering the waters around Rockall.

The Northern Celt was boarded and its skipper instructed that he could no longer fish within 12 nautical miles of the disputed rocky outcrop as a result of Brexit.

The Northern Celt was in the eye of a similar political storm in June 2019 when the Scottish government imposed a ban on Irish vessels fishing within 12 miles of Rockall. 

Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s fisheries minister, warned that it would take action against Irish vessels that he claimed were fishing illegally around the rock. 

A flurry of diplomatic activity followed, with discussions between then taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, following a meeting of the British-Irish Council. 

That dispute was said to have been resolved after discussions involving the Department of Foreign Affairs, but it appears Scotland is again laying claim to Rockall and the decision to use force rather than diplomacy is bound to escalate tensions.

Attempts by the UK to gain control over Rockall have ranged from the bullish to the downright ridiculous. 

In 1955, two British royal marines landed on Rockall and hoisted the Union Jack in an attempt to annex it. They also attached a plaque to the side of the rock.

An act of the Westminster parliament in 1972 sought to formally take ownership of Rockall by passing the Island of Rockall Act. 

It claimed Rockall as part of Scotland, asserting that “possession was formally taken in the name of Her Majesty on 18 September 1955”.

International law is not on the side of the UK. 

The UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted in 1982, states: “Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.” 

In order to subvert this inconvenience, in 1985, former British SAS soldier Tom McClean spent 40 days on Rockall in an attempt to validate it as an island and make it British territory.

This is not about territory or sovereignty; it is about access to fishing waters within the vicinity of the rock. 

Rockall is important to Ireland’s fishing fleet. Boats from Killybegs and Greencastle rely on the Rockall area for up to 30% of their catch. Other vessels from around Ireland, as far south as Castletownbere in Cork, rely on the grounds for squid, a species not subject to quota limits.

Successive Irish governments have spent more than half a century acquiescing to British claims to the rock, even if Ireland has never accepted those claims.

We must now pursue all means possible to protect our legitimately-held fishing interests. In the meantime, the Government should deploy boats from the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority to protect Irish fishing vessels around Rockall.