The Shackleton Museum in Co Kildare has welcomed a commitment by Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney to ensure Ireland signs up to the Antarctic Treaty.

The Athy museum said it was particularly fitting in the approach to the centenary of Ernest Shackleton’s death in January 2022.

Coveney was speaking in the Seanad on a Green Party motion seeking to secure Ireland’s accession, which secured all-party support on Wednesday night.

Committed - Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney

Coveney said he was “very committed to getting this done", but said there were “serious issues” including legislative and policy requirements that needed assessing.

"We need to be credible if we're going to do this properly,” he said, setting a target date of the end of the first quarter of 2022 and promising to report back to the Seanad.

The Seanad motion to join the treaty, which 53 states have signed up to, was introduced by Green Party senator Vincent Martin.

The treaty, described as a positive example of multilateralism, commits to access to Antarctica for peaceful purposes only.

It promotes international scientific cooperation, and agreement to set aside disputes over territorial sovereignty.

The Green Party motion urged the Government to complete its assessment of the necessary commitments for accession to the Antarctic Treaty; to commit to taking all necessary steps to accede as soon as possible.

The motion also requested the Minister for Foreign Affairs to provide an update on progress made by his department in the assessment of the commitments necessary for accession to the treaty.

The Government agreed not to oppose the motion, and it received all-party support in the Seanad.

The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) comprises the Antarctic Treaty (1959), the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals 1972, and the Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection 1991.

Ireland considered joining the Antarctic treaty system over ten years ago, but it was found that complex legislation would have to be enacted first, making it a “criminal offence for any citizen of Ireland to commit in Antarctica any act or omission which, if committed in Ireland, would be a criminal offence in the State”.

It was also found that “significant commitments” would have to be made by a number of government departments.

The Shackleton Museum chair and board said the Seanad motion was “particularly welcome as we approach the centenary of the death of Ireland’s leading polar explorer, Ernest Shackleton in January”.

“Shackleton is the key person in Ireland’s links to the Antarctic and it is particularly fitting as his expeditions all had important science and climate objectives,” it said.