Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2016 to Question 52620, on County Londonderry, what the legal basis is for the Government's position given in that Answer.

The issues relating to Lough Foyle date back to a 1662 charter of Charles II, which granted the waters and bed (as well as the fisheries) of Lough Foyle to the Irish Society, and included them as part of County Londonderry.

In practice, the regulation of activities in the Lough is now the responsibility of the Loughs Agency, a cross-border body established under the Belfast Agreement of 1998.

We remain fully committed to these arrangements and continue to work closely with the Irish Government over improvements to the management of the Lough. Like the Irish Government, we do not anticipate these issues forming part of the negotiations over the UK’s exit from the European Union.