Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Michael Healy-Rae has today (Wednesday, February 12) announced the re-opening of the Forestry Knowledge Transfer Group (KTG) Scheme.

The aim of the scheme, now in its sixth year, is to increase the level of forest management activity amongst forest owners.

Forest owners participating in the scheme gain additional knowledge to assist them in managing their forest over its lifetime.

This will include the importance of forests for climate change mitigation and their adaptation and resilience against weather events.

Each knowledge transfer group (KTG) can have a maximum of 20 participants and each participant will need to attend seven meetings or outdoor events in order to complete the programme.

Participants who have not taken part in a Forestry KTG in the previous three years, can be invited to participate in this round of the scheme.

The department noted that participation in other agriculture KTGs does not impact on participant’s eligibility to take part in the scheme.

A total of seven meetings and events will be organised per KTG – the maximum payment to each participant is €560 (€80/meeting).

An evaluation process will apply to ensure that only applications to organise a KTG that reach a minimum standard are considered. Applications will also be ranked if the scheme is over subscribed.

Available KTGs will be distributed equally between forestry producer groups and forestry companies/forestry consultants.

Completed applications must be emailed to DAFM by 4:00p.m on Monday, March 11, 2025.

Minister Healy-Rae said that the Forestry KTG Scheme continues to be "a very successful and sought-after scheme".

"This scheme follows-on from successfully completed schemes in 2018, 2019, a curtailed scheme in 2020/2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a fully completed scheme in 2022 and 2023.

"Since the scheme’s inception, the department has funded approximately 2,700 participants," he said.

According to the COFORD Councils, which provides advice on forest sector development, Irish wood production is set to increase from 4.7 million cubic metres to nearly 8 million cubic metres by 2035, mostly from privately owned forests.

"It is vital that the State's investment in forestry is realised through the mobilisation of this timber, to create economic activity along the supply chain through activities such as harvesting, transportation, replanting and processing.

"Any barriers to mobilising private timber, like knowledge gaps, are addressed through the Forestry KTGs," Minister Healy-Rae said.

The minister added that the KTGs "operate with a bottom-up approach with the members themselves deciding on what it is they wish to learn".