Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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101. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment if he will direct Enterprise Ireland to support companies active in the area of hemp based products in view of the recent judgement by the European Court of Justice (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42017/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise Ireland is currently not in a position to support companies active in the area of cannabis-based products. Enterprise Ireland’s position is based on the fact that, while EU regulations permit a threshold of 0.2% of THC in hemp products, products containing any trace of THC are considered as a controlled drug in Ireland under the Misuse of Drugs Orders. In effect, there is no lower limit of THC permissible under national legislation.

Therefore, products which can contain even minimal levels of THC pose a reputational risk to Enterprise Ireland as the agency is not in a position to verify which companies, products and extraction methods meet the legal requirement in Ireland to contain 0.00% levels of THC.