Coillte recognises the vital role we play in educating the public about forestry. Our forest managers are always available to facilitate and guide school and group tours around any of our forests. You can contact any of our Region Offices to find out more information about how to get in touch with our local forest managers to organise visits.

In addition, Coillte are involved in Tree Day in association with the Tree Council of Ireland. This annual event occurs in the autumn when one day in the primary schools curriculum is devoted exclusively to the study and direct experience of trees. The objective of this day is to get children out of the classroom and into the school-yard, countryside or forest to study and observe trees first-hand. Our foresters around the country guide these schoolchildren around our forests and teach them all about trees. It is estimated that greater than 100,000 school children participated in tree day last year.

Coillte co-sponsor National Tree Week each year, a week-long event that normally takes place in the first week of March each year. This event is also organised by the Tree Council of Ireland. During this week, forest walks are organised in our forests countrywide. These educational walks are open to the general public. In addition, we donate greater than 15,000 trees to the Local Authorities around the country, and other events are organised such as tree talks, tree planting ceremonies and children's activities.

Education about trees and forests is also a very important part of the People's Millennium Forests project, a Millennium project sponsored by AIB and the National Millennium Committee and managed by Coillte in partnership with Woodlands of Ireland. Three outreach officers visit schools around Ireland to teach children about our native trees and forests and help them to grow their own trees to improve their local environment.

Forestry is a continually evolving industry and it is important that we ensure that our staff is educated to the highest standard. Our training centre at Mountrath in Co. Laois provides a wide range of training programmes for our staff including: Environmental Impact Assessment; fencing; chainsaw usage; first aid; fire fighting; machine operation; chemical usage; and map reading. These and other courses are also available for people who wish to enter the forest industry and for people already in the industry who wish to up-skill themselves. You can visit the Training section of our website to find out more information.

Research is a very important part of the educational process for Coillte, the forest industry and for the general public. Coillte has its own Research and Development Department, located in Newtownmountkennedy in Co. Wicklow. There are 24 people employed on a permanent basis in our Research Department, with approximately 10 more employed on a part-time or contract basis. We have four main areas of study in Research: Silviculture, Site Studies, Forest Protection, and Genetics and Tree Improvement. You can visit the Research Section of our website to find out more information.

Teachers Notes, Junior and Senior Infants, 1st and 2nd Class, 3rd and 4th Class, 5th and 6th Class.