Mr. Eoin Carew:

Ideally we would develop our own seed here. I have contacted the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine about this but while the Department does engage, it says that the crop is too small. Last year 251 ha were grown in Ireland. A total of 77 licences were issued, according to the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA. Every time I speak to officials in the Department they say it is a chicken and egg scenario. We made a protein submission two years ago to try to get hemp included for a protein payment. Even if it was only €100 an acre that would make a big difference because it would cover the cost of the seed. We also tried to have it included under GLAS but because hemp is not a nitrogen fixer it cannot be included with beans, peas and legumes.