Talks involving four countries, including the Republic and the UK, to share oil and gas exploration rights potentially worth billions around Rockall ended in Iceland last night without agreement.
However, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said he was "encouraged" by the progress in the negotiations, which also involve Iceland and the Faroe Islands, adding that further meetings were planned.
Progress has been slow in the talks, which have been continuing for five years, in contrast to a successful agreement reached between Ireland, the UK, France and Spain over a 50,000 sq km expanse of the waters straddling the Celtic Sea and the Bay of Biscay.
Under a new United Nations treaty, due to come into force in 2012, states will be able to claim ownership of exploration rights on waters up to 500km from their coastlines if they can show a direct underwater land linkage to the area concerned.
The four countries are attempting to divide up territorial rights to 422,000 sq km of waters around Rockall, or about five times the land area of Ireland.
If agreement can be reached, it will be submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf before a May 2009 deadline.
