Ms Kate Carmody:

I would like to answer the Deputy's question about farming and the licence. I am an organic dairy farmer and in my experience, there is no trouble getting a licence if one is honest on the form and wants to use hemp for fibre. I use it as a rotational crop in my farming system. I used it for bedding for cattle. I use the seed when I can harvest it to feed pigs. There is a lot of work going on all over Europe. I was part of a European focus group looking at soil decontamination and the role of medicinal plants such as hemp in creating value added income for farmers. It is a no-brainer for the farming community. I live in north Kerry and before the pandemic, I had a queue of farmers at my kitchen door every week. They want to bring their children home from all over the world to farm their land but they want them to make money. They do not want them to lose. I live in a drained peatland area which is getting wetter and harder to farm. I do not want farmers having to apply for a licence. Industrial hemp has very little CBD or THC if it is being grown for fibre. It is on the drop-down menu for the basic payment now if one wants to grow it for industrial or seed purposes. I grow if for the fibre, as I said. Any farmer should be allowed to grow hemp and put it on their basic payment form; end of story. The people who have to deal with all this paperwork for the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, are probably pulling their hair out with all of the applications. The HPRA could go out and check the crops to ensure we are not breaking the law. That is the way the system should be working. I can tell the committee that the farmers will embrace it.

I talk to farming groups all the time and they love the idea. We just need help to get there.