Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Vera to the Visitors Gallery and hope she is fine again. I spoke to her earlier this morning and she was absolutely over the moon. Her daughter Ava has been responding very well to the treatment she is receiving in the Netherlands. Obviously, she wants Ava back at home, particularly once the three-month monitoring period is completed on 28 November.

I welcome what appears now to be a general consensus that this Bill should go to Committee Stage for consideration and for whatever amendments are necessary. We all know there are thousands of individuals out there, including thousands of children, who would benefit from medicinal cannabis prescribed in a proper way. That is what this Bill is all about. It is to ensure there is a regime in place whereby medical cannabis can be available to the very many people who are suffering and to people whom it would benefit where there is good medical and scientific evidence that it can alleviate suffering. We know that it can. The evidence is out there and has been given by various experts and specialists over a long number of years.

The bottom line is that other jurisdictions have dealt with this matter. They have introduced legislation and introduced programmes whereby patients can be prescribed cannabis to their benefit. If other jurisdictions have done it, I do not see why the Oireachtas cannot do it. I certainly support this legislation. As Deputy Kenny said, amendments need to be made to the Bill. Many are very straightforward, such as changing the word "consumer" to "patient", changing the word "certificate" to "prescription" and simply deleting the reference to "smoking cannabis". Many of the matters raised by the committee can be dealt with in a very straightforward and simple way. Now is the time. We must grasp the nettle and put in place a proper, regulated, medically based system to allow people who suffer chronic pain, seizures and a number of other illnesses to have proper treatment through medicinal cannabis.

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