Goleen's Michael key player in Arctic website

A GOLEEN lawyer was the driving force behind the setting up of a public web portal that will provide essential data needed to plan for safe and environmentally sound navigation in the Arctic.

London based Michael Kingston was a key figure behind the portal, accessible at www.arcticshippingforum.is, which provides links to authoritative information essential to implementation of and compliance with the Polar Code. 

Information for the portal was contributed by many stakeholders, including Arctic states, intergovernmental organisations, classification societies, the shipping industry, marine insurers, and non-governmental organisations.  It will be regularly updated and expanded as new information becomes available.

Launched at a forum in London’s Irish Cultural Centre, whose director, Michael Kingston, a special advisor to the Arctic Council PAME group, said: ‘This web portal will help implement critically important regulation and is seen by the International Maritime Organisation as an example for other areas of world regulation. It is also an example for law makers to follow in domestic regulation

‘It was also an enormous opportunity for Ireland to show our support for this work and our friendship for our Arctic neighbours, whilst the Department of Foreign Affairs considers a formal application to apply for Ireland’s Observer Member Status of the Arctic Council. 

‘I am glad and grateful to see An Tánaiste, Simon Coveney, so engaged on this issue, despite his enormous work load and to have the Irish Ambassador to the United Kingdom address the Arctic States here at ICC to further these objectives was magnificent,’ he added.