Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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967. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 1117 of 28 April 2021, the name of the person selected to be the project manager for Project Woodland and not any experts hired to assist with the implementation of the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23910/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Project Woodland is being delivered under four different Working Groups reporting to Minister of State Hackett, through a Project Board.

The Jo O'Hara report recommended the recruitment of project management expertise to assist in the implementation of the project. The Department responded immediately to this recommendation by recruiting an external project management specialist, Mr. Eamon O'Doherty, to this role and he started with the Department on 4th May 2021.

This is a full-time role dedicated entirely to the implementation of Project Woodland and he is based in my Department. We will be recruiting a specialist systems analyst to also fulfil one of the recommendations of the Jo O'Hara report. These are essential additions to my Department team to achieve the goals set out in Project Woodland.

Along with Minister Hackett, I am committed to the success of Project Woodland and all appropriate resources across the Department will be in place to ensure that it can be delivered for the benefit of the forestry sector and society .