Ms Imelda Hurley:

Absolutely. I will pass to Mr. Carlin in a moment because he is a forester who has been through the system and can add more colour. I will address this in overall terms and in the context of the earlier discussion on the scale of challenges that are ahead. I appreciate the Senator's comments on Coillte having improved its corporate messaging. We see that as a very important role not just for Coillte, but for the overall forestry sector. We recognise the importance of the sector and of helping everyone understand that the sector, perhaps traditionally thought of as being primarily for wood production, delivers so much. We focus today on the multiple benefits of forestry. Everything we do relates to balance. That is very much what our vision is about. We want to ensure people understand that forests can deliver for climate and carbon, for nature and biodiversity, for people, well-being and recreation, and for wood. That is an important piece of how we think about the overall sector and we see the important role we can play in that regard.

The second piece, which very much builds on the question asked by the Senator and the response to it, is that we recognise there are real challenges for our sector in terms of attracting labour. This issue is particularly relevant at present in terms of the challenges of our time. There are significant challenges ahead with regard to the amount of work that needs to be done. We have spoken today about rewetting, rewilding and afforestation. There is a significant amount to be done. Our focus in overall terms is to help people to see that forestry as an overall sector and the wood processing industry can be very attractive. We are more focused than ever before on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, ecology and all the enablers of forestry in addition to the traditional forest manager. This week, we had our most recent conversation on the challenge of attracting people to the sector, and the need to do so. We recognise that university is not the only answer in terms of education, and that apprenticeships can be a significant way forward in addition to graduate programmes and so on. I will pass over to Mr. Carlin to address the detail of what we are doing specifically in the forestry area to address the challenges the Senator identified.