Ireland is laying claim to ownership of a potentially oil or gas rich patch of international waters hundreds of miles south-west of Kerry.
In a joint submission to the United Nations Spain, France and the United Kingdom have joined Ireland in a bid to secure control of the area known as the Celtic Shelf. The area is some 200 nautical miles from shore.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern predicted that if successful, Ireland could reap massive dividends as demand for oil and gas soars in the next few decades.
"In years to come Ireland's claim for a much greater slice of the seas hundreds of miles off our coast will be seen as tremendously significant," he said. "We probably don't have either the technologies or the economics of scale to work in such waters but as energy prices continue to soar and become scarcer and our ability to tap these resources is realised, our exclusive exploration rights to such vast expanse of ocean will pay dividends for the generations to come.
"We are effectively locking up control of thousands of square kilometres of unexplored seabed deep into the mid and south Atlantic for our children and their children."
The Celtic Shelf, which covers an area the size of Ireland, is situated between on the Celtic Sea and the Bay of Biscay.
Ireland could be in line for more than 30 per cent of the area.
The submission will be made in June to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea chaired by Dr Peter Croker from the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. Officials will study it over the next few years and, if accepted, the four countries will be obliged to thrash out a deal to secure a chunk of the waters.
Ireland has already laid claim to a zone north of this known as the Porcupine Basin and a decision on this by the UN is expected in August.
PA