THE DEPARTMENT of Foreign Affairs has said that Ireland’s claim to the seabed area around Rockall should not be affected by a bid to renew British jurisdiction on the rock.
“Stunts such as these do not undermine the fact that there is no dispute between Ireland and Britain over Rockall,” a spokesman for Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has said.
Yorkshire adventurer Andy Strangeway has received approval this month from the Scottish Western Isles Council for his attempt to land on Rockall.
The Western Isles Council, which is the nearest local authority to the 80 foot-high outcrop in the north-east Atlantic, has confirmed it granted Mr Strangeway “advertorial consent” to renew a plaque on the rock. The plaque was first placed there by a British military expedition in 1955.
Ireland is pursuing a disputed seabed claim to the Hatton-Rockall area, but Irish legal opinion suggests that jurisdiction over the rock itself does not confer any advantage.