Ms Kate Carmody:

Yes, around Listowel. A lot of the ground around Moyvane or whatever is very heavy.

The beauty of hemp is that it is not set until May. The best crop I ever had I set on 21 May and it was off the ground by the end of August. It sets within a short window, which is the reason it sits as a rotational crop. We have had machinery designed but we do not have the money. It is the lack of funding and grant aid that is holding us back. We do a share release to our members to get investment. I recently finished a submission with my board on the new co-operative legislation to allow agencies such as Enterprise Ireland to be brought in to put in place all of the infrastructure. If we had the right policy, we could have it there within a year or two. I reckon it would turn this country on its head.