It will drive Wolfe Tones' fans demented. Not only is Queen Elizabeth visiting Ireland but two Englishmen are attempting to land on Rockall to place a plaque declaring British sovereignty.

Historically, Rockall's ownership has been disputed between Ireland and Britain. It might be only 80x100ft, but the uninhabited isle in the middle of the north Atlantic has for decades been hugely symbolic for militant nationalists.

The Wolfe Tones ballad declares: "Oh rock on Rockall, you'll never fall to Britain's greedy hands/ Or you'll meet the same resistance that you did in many lands... And remember that Britannia, well she rules the waves no more/ So keep your hands off Rockall – it's Irish to the core."

But while mná agus fir na héireann have sung along, they've proved more timorous about asserting themselves in practice. The British, by contrast, are committed.

Two Englishmen are separately planning to land on Rockall, which is regularly washed over by huge waves, and replace a plaque proclaiming British ownership.

The original brass one, cemented there by the Royal Navy when Britain hoisted the union jack and annexed Rockall in 1955, has long been swept into the sea.

Andy Strangeway (44) from Yorkshire told the Sunday Tribune: "I'm determined to create history by becoming only the fifth person to sleep overnight on Rockall and to re-establish my country's claim to the island by re-erecting Her Majesty's plaque where it belongs."

Lancashire man Nick Hancock (35) is also planning to visit Rockall next year to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the first landing there by the Royal Navy.

Hancock, who comes from a military family but says his motivation isn't political, also hopes to break the record for the longest ever occupation of Rockall – 40 days – currently held by ex-SAS man Tom McClean. Hancock aims to remain on the rock for 60 days and nights next summer.

An architect friend is building a "survival shelter" for him which will be secured on a ledge, only 4x11ft, near the rock's summit. Hancock's only companions on Rockall will be periwinkles, molluscs and seagulls. But he told the Sunday Tribune he won't be bored: "I plan to learn to play the harmonica and to speak Italian. I'll take my iPod and listen to rock music on days I'm feeling down, and some classical tracks for serene moments like watching sunsets."

Sponsorship funds raised by the expedition will go to a charity for wounded British soldiers. Ireland and Britain have both claimed lucrative oil exploration and fishing rights in the seas surrounding Rockall, as have Denmark and Iceland.

The rock is 301km west of the Scottish islands of St Kilda and 424km northwest of Donegal. But legal experts have argued that ownership lies with the country whose mainland is nearest – making it Irish.

The government seems less enthusiastic. The Department of Foreign Affairs told the Sunday Tribune that while Ireland doesn't recognise British sovereignty of Rockall, neither is it challenging it or asserting Irish sovereignty. Its understanding is that ownership of Rockall has no legal significance for oil or fishing rights.