Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am forced, once again, to ask the Government to clarify its position on legislation on access to medicinal cannabis. I am doing so because Vera Twomey, the mother of Ava Barry who suffers from a severe form of epilepsy, Dravet syndrome, has been outside all night and remains outside the Dáil. She is seeking a meeting with the Minister for Health, which he promised, regarding gaining access for her daughter to medicinal cannabis.

I appeal to the Government on this issue. We have had mixed and worrying signals that perhaps the reason the Minister does not want to meet Vera Twomey is because he is trying to severely restrict access to medicinal cannabis for people like Ava Barry and others who are suffering and need this product.

In the past ten days the medical profession of this country voted that people like Vera Twomey, who have a prescription from a general practitioner, should have access to this product. Why is the Minister and Government second guessing the medical profession in this country and leaving people like Vera Twomey suffering outside the gates?

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