THE Irish government has ruled out sending its navy into waters around the disputed Rockall islet in the North Atlantic as a row over fishing rights intensifies.
Tánaiste Simon Coveney said "we need to take the heat out of this discussion" after the Scottish government warned that patrol boats would board Irish vessels if they refused to leave the waters around Rockall.
He said "diplomatic channels" remain open between the Irish and Scottish governments.
Irish government officials were in contact with their Scottish counterparts on Sunday amid a renewed row over fishing rights in the waters around Rockall.
The British government formally declared the islet part of Scotland in 1972 but the Irish government has never recognised this claim.
Speaking in Cork yesterday, Mr Coveney said: "There is no question of sending in naval ships.
"I think the less we talk about boardings and potential clashes the better.
"We need to take the heat out of this discussion and look for solutions. That is what diplomacy is about. Scotland and Ireland are very close friends. We will work with them to try to bring an end to this.
"But what we won’t do is change a policy that we have had in place for decades on the back of a threat which is what has been happening for the last few days."
Mr Coveney said the waters around Rockall are an "EU fisheries ground".
"What we do not accept is that a very small rock constitutes a sovereign territory that can have a 12-mile limit set around it," he said.
"That is what the Scottish government is claiming and we do not accept that."
The waters around Rockall are rich in white fish stocks including cod and haddock.
Mike Park, chief executive of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, claimed Irish trawlers have been fishing illegally around Rockall for many years.
He said Scotland has had the right to impose a 12-mile limit around Rockall since 2014.
"This is not disputed territory in our eyes," he said.
"The Scottish government warned the Irish government for years to have that respect. You’ve got to abide by the law. If there is a dispute it should be challenged in a court of law."
Independent Mournes councillor Henry Reilly said the waters around Rockall were hugely important.
But he said the industry has been badly hit and only a few boats from Northern Ireland are involved in the white fish industry.
"The white fish industry has been completely decimated by EU rules over tying up vessels and quotas and time spent at sea."
He said Rockall would be even more significant following Brexit.
"When we leave the EU it will be one of the markers for British territorial waters," he said.
"It's the Scottish government which seems to be pushing this, not London, which is interesting. Maybe they think there will be another referendum and independence in which case it could become very important for them."
Mr Reilly added that the Iish and British governments should agree their own joint fishing policy.
"The Irish government is only trying to protect its interests," he said.
"I have said as someone who has long been involved in supporting fishermen that there should be a British Isles fishing policy because Irish people are being fleeced.
"The waters around the British Isles are the most fertile fishing grounds in the world. There should be a policy between England, the Republic, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales."
