6. Without prejudice to any other functions conferred on the Minister by this Act, the Minister may—

(a) grant licences and, where appropriate, attach conditions thereto, for—

(i) the felling or otherwise removing of a tree or trees and the thinning of a forest,

(ii) afforestation,

(iii) forest road works, and

(iv) aerial fertilisation of forests,

(b) give approvals and, where appropriate, attach conditions thereto, for forest management plans,

(c) give approval for and provide grants for any activity related to his or her functions under the relevant statutory provisions and may attach conditions thereto,

(d) produce and implement guidelines, codes of practice and standards for good forest practice,

(e) purchase or otherwise acquire, or dispose of, land suitable for afforestation or for any other forestry-related activities,

(f) develop and maintain forest inventories,

(g) undertake, participate in or promote any scheme or project related to his or her functions,

F3[(ga) in order to enable the State to pursue, and achieve, the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient, biodiversity rich and environmentally sustainable economy —

(i) undertake, participate in or promote any scheme or project promoting the planting of native tree areas, and

(ii) in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions, give approval for and provide native tree area grants, subject to such conditions as may be specified, for the planting of native tree areas,]

(h) undertake the collection, preparation, publication and distribution of statistics relating to forestry,

(i) prescribe fees pursuant to section 25,

(j) prescribe forms for the purposes of the Forestry Acts 1988 to 2014, and

(k) make regulations relating to any of the foregoing functions.