Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:

“ , notwithstanding the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Health in its Report entitled ‘Report on Scrutiny of the Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016 [PMB]’, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 12th July, 2017, agrees that the Bill should proceed to Committee Stage in order that amendments may be made to the Bill.”

I welcome everyone in the Public Gallery. Unfortunately, Vera Twomey is not here today. She collapsed outside the Dáil today. I hope she gets well soon. I know she is here in spirit and that she will be back with us very soon.

I stood on this spot a year ago with a great deal of hope in my heart. Obviously, the country was probably behind what we are trying to do. We are trying to give safe and legal access to cannabis for people who need the medication. The hundreds of people I have met over the past year shared my hope that they would be recognised as medical patients. They had hoped that they could have safe and legal access to medicinal cannabis. They had hoped to be able to come out of the shadows of darkness brought about by their illness. It was not an illness they chose. The illness chose them.

Today I stand here with despair, unfortunately. I hope I am wrong. This place can grind a person down sometimes, and we are all human. I have been left with a sense of despair. I will never give up in any sense.

Over the course of the past year, I believe our Bill has been completely sabotaged. I was rather shocked by the shambolic nature of the pre-legislative scrutiny. I believe it was politically motivated in some ways. It was rigged. Some of the comments made in the Joint Committee on Health were extraordinary, although I am not going to go into them now. I believe the Committee on Health looked for every excuse to stymie progress of our Bill. It is as simple as that. Deputy Harty has said every conceivable negative thing about our Bill. He has never said one positive thing about it, but there are positives aspects to it.

I am not saying the Bill is perfect by any means. However, it is always amendable in my eyes. Let us consider all the international evidence. Those responsible had to abandon the compassionate access scheme in Germany because it was so restrictive. The Minister's compassionate access scheme is extremely restrictive. I will explain how restrictive it is.

The situation of Ava Barry is instructive. I went to see her in the Netherlands. It was a bittersweet experience. It was sweet to see a child doing very well. However, it was a bitter experience to see an Irish citizen in medical exile in Holland. I came back ten times angrier. I was angry that a child should have to go to another country to get simple medicine. Over there, she can go to the pharmacy. The pharmacist gives out the medication. She gives her money and comes back to her house. Is it not shambolic that an Irish citizen has to go to another country to do that? Ava has been almost seizure-free since she went over there. Under the compassionate access scheme that the Minister is promoting, she would be unable to access the scheme. That is the simple truth.

I am keen to dispel some myths about our legislation. I find it rather incredible that one of the pretexts set out in the Committee on Health report was that it would be too onerous to go through the Bill. We are lawmakers. We are elected to the Dáil to change laws. That is our job. If it is an onerous task, then it is worth it. I do not understand that point.

What really annoys me is the point about a shortage of peer-reviewed evidence. The evidence is available. It is coming out of people's ears. Of course we need more research. However, it seems that people want to hide behind that until kingdom come. They say there is not enough peer-reviewed research, but there is. It is only that certain people choose to look away. There is ample evidence that people can greatly benefit from the Bill.

I have always said that we would look at the Bill objectively with anyone in this room, regardless of political persuasion. I have no problem if people want to take out certain provisions. The main thing is to give people legal access to medicinal cannabis.

I have a message for the Deputies in the Chamber who will be voting on this next week. In my eyes, they will be on the wrong side of history, science, public opinion and international recognition. No matter what happens after next week, our fight will continue. The political establishment might be giving up on people, but we will never give up on the people who are in the Gallery. They will never walk alone.

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