The main career decision was to leave Coillte having spent a short few years very happily working on research contracts to take up a District Inspector job in the Forest Service.

Job was advertised I applied and got it.

Yesterday wasn't a typical day but it was an interesting day and so instead of making amendments to my annual Business plan I got out in the field. We carry out a lot of training for private foresters so yesterday I assisted our ecologist in carrying out a training day on classifying land into different fertility categories depending on the species of plants present. The species have to be identified and then scored. For example if its heather it has a low score while if it's soft rush it has a higher score.

I am responsible for managing the Forestry Inspectorate in the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine. Together we focus a lot of our energies looking after private family forests in terms of providing grant aid for those wishing to plant forests, put roads in to forests or develop amenity schemes in Woodlands. We also carry out a National Forest Inventory every 5 years and work on preventing exotic insects and diseases from entering the country. We do lots of other policy and EU stuff also.

The two biggest challenges I face are firstly to try and increase the annual rate of forest planting and secondly to ensure that the forests that have been planted over the years by farmers are properly managed to ensure sawmills get the raw material they need.

It’s cool to have an influence on national forest policy and develop and encourage schemes like the NeighbourWood scheme that aims to get more people out walking in forests.

The end of year reviews and business planning for the year ahead are very necessary, very useful but a bit of a pain in the neck.

That’s a tricky one, I’m not sure. I’m really lucky to be surrounded by highly motivated people who are clear about their work. I try and give them whatever resources, encouragement and direction I can to ensure they continue to deliver in their roles.

Subject choice really does matter. I took Applied Maths, Physics and Chemistry for the Leaving Cert and having not studied Biology I found that hard in first year in college.

• B Agr Sc (Forestry) 1991
• M Agr Sc (Forestry) 1994
• Diploma EIA Management 1998

Basic primary degree in forestry in UCD was good and broad and a good deal of practical stuff thrown in.

Seeing the volume of timber being harvested from the private sector grow annually is very rewarding as it shows the return we are getting from our investment in afforestation.

I think I am a good communicator, calm under pressure and I like to plan ahead. These qualities are important in my job.

Dublin senior hurling manager.

Yes.

Working in the Forest Service can be great fun. Most of the roles in the Forest Service involve a nice mix of office and field work and I would advise anyone considering this work to seek as much practical forestry experience as possible in Forestry before joining the Forest Service.

• Confident
• Polite
• Knowledgeable

Yes, I’ve done a number of project management and staff management courses over the years and plan to do a change management course later this year.

Any practical forestry experience is good as is any experience in GIS and work on forest management plans. The more varied the work experience the better.

Forestry Inspector