Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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847. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to confirm that registered foresters are no longer allowed individual webcam access at his Department's webinars (details supplied); if he will ensure webcams can be used in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62758/25]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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My Department holds a variety of in-person indoor, in-person outdoor and online training sessions for registered foresters and ecologists. Since August 2023, there have been over 20 such forestry related training sessions for private registered foresters and ecologists, delivered by my Department.

These optional training events are free to attend and have been welcomed by the vast majority of participants. These training events have been very useful to aid in the delivery of the Forestry Programme 2023-2027.

My Department has established an Afforestation Technical Working Group, comprised of registered foresters and my officials, and amongst their tasks is to identify and prioritise any such training requirements.

To date six training webinars for Registered Foresters and Ecologists on the Forestry Programme 2023-2027 have been published on line, in addition to the presentation slides from all training events. Topics covered by these webinars include Afforestation scheme applications, the Native Tree Area scheme, the Reconstitution Ash Dieback scheme, the Woodland Improvement scheme, the Climate Resilient Reforestation scheme, Native Woodland Establishment, and the Forest Road scheme.

Due to the large volume of attendees, my Department has moved from a standard Video Conferencing format to a Webinar format for online training sessions, as recommended by my Departments IMT specialists.

This format allows for my Department’s IMT specialists to provide dedicated support at every session for any technical issues as they may arise. In addition, it allows for the possibility of the training sessions to be securely recorded for subsequent publication on my Department’s website as needed.

I fully recognise and appreciate the critical role played by registered foresters in implementing the Forestry Programme.