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Mon 04 Apr 2007Dempsey welcomes UN water rulingMinister for Marine Noel Dempsey has expressed "delight" at a United Nations commission ruling which extends Ireland's continental shelf area beyond 200 nautical miles.Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern played a pivotal role in staking the claim to an additional 56,000sq km of territorial waters - said to match some 80 per cent of the State's land area.