Representatives from the Celtic nations have unanimously backed an emergency resolution calling for the protection of Manx territorial waters.

The emergency resolution was tabled as delegates from Ireland, Brittany, Wales, Cornwall, Wales and the Isle of Man gathered in Peel for the annual general meeting of the Celtic League.

The weekend conference discussed a number of matters relevant to all of the six Celtic nations as well as others of wider international importance.

Resolutions on a variety of issues were passed.

An emergency resolution from the Mannin branch demanded that the integrity of Manx territorial seas be protected.

This comes after the UK government decision to withdraw from the present Fisheries Convention which allowed vessels from certain other countries to fish within six and 12 nautical miles of the UK’s coastline.

The resolution, which was passed unanimously, calls for urgent action to protect Manx waters from exploitation and condemned the UK in abusing its constitutional relationship with the Isle of Man by failing to recognise Manx territorial waters.

Other motions passed included those calling for an end to the damaging impact of mining licences being granted in central Brittany, and regulations to prevent the harm done to the world’s oceans and ecosystems caused by overfishing by so-called ’Super Trawlers’.

Support was also given to those arrested in recent protests against the nuclear base at Faslane in Scotland.

Among other resolutions passed were demands for greater support for the Irish language from the Irish government and for an Irish Language Act to be adopted in the six counties in the north of Ireland.

The meeting also condemned the highly discriminatory decision, based upon a French State diktat, by the registry in Quimper, Brittany, to refuse the registration of a child’s name because it used Breton spelling.

The Celtic League’s director of information Alastair Kneale said: ’This year’s AGM concluded on a very enthusiastic and optimistic note.

’Despite the uncertain times in which we live there are clear opportunities for the Celtic League to successfully pursue its objectives, which include to further each of the Celtic nation’s right to independence and to promote the benefits of inter Celtic co-operation.’

After the AGM, delegates went to Cregneash to hear a talk by Fiona McArdle on the visit by Irish statesman Ã?amon de Valera 70 years ago.

De Valera instigated a visit by the Irish Folklore Commission whose work in recording native Manx Gaelic speakers helped preserve the Manx language.