Forest Service base opens

Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill officially opens Forest Service's new Headquarters in Enniskillen following the relocation from Belfast as part of the Minister's wider decentralisation process. Minister O'Neill is pictured with Kevin Dolan (left), who has been working with Forest Service for 42years, and Malcolm Beatty (right), Chief Executive of Forest Service. Photo Andrew Towe, Parkway Photography

Over 50 Forest Service posts will be located in Inishkeen House, Enniskillen delivering another important milestone in the decentralisation of civil service jobs.

“I’m very excited to tour the new Forest Service headquarters here in Enniskillen and to chat to staff about their experience of the relocation process and the advantages working in this regional HQ offers them. This is the second significant milestone of our plan to relocate the Headquarters of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to a rural location, following the relocation of Fisheries HQ to Downpatrick,” Minister O’Neill said during her visit.

“There are very clear benefits in moving Forest Service’s administrative and management functions from Belfast to an area where one third of all forests lie in the council area, including over 30 public forests.

“I am confident that, like the other relocation projects, it will mean local people in local jobs, better work life balance and a boost to the local rural economy. We know from a Civil Service staff survey that there is a strong appetite for posts outside Belfast and this relocation has already brought an additional 39 jobs to Enniskillen,” added Minister O’Neill.

“Good progress continues to be made on the other headquarters relocation projects, Rivers Agency to Cookstown and the remainder of my department’s headquarter to Ballykelly.

“At the Loughry site the demolition work is finished and construction has started on the new Rivers Agency headquarters. We are also awaiting a planning decision for the new headquarters at Ballykelly.”

The new address and contact details for Forest Service are: Inishkeen House, Killyhevlin, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, BT74 4EJ, Tel: 028 6634 3165/3144.