Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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205. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for clarification on the Government's policy towards the farming of hemp, particularly in light of a number of cases of licensed hemp farmers being monitored and raided by An Garda Síochána; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3907/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Current legislation in Ireland does not allow for the growing of hemp unless a specific license has been granted by the Health Products Regulatory Authority which operates under the auspices of the Department of Health.

In addition, the cultivation of hemp is restricted to varieties having less than 0.3% content of tetrahydrocannabinol. Cannabis (which includes hemp) is listed in schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2017, as amended, which means it is subject to the strictest level of control. Issues relating to An Garda Síochána are not a matter for my Department.

The previous Programme for Government included a commitment to fully explore fibre crops such as hemp and consider whether these crops have a viable market. The report on this consultation was published in December 2022 and is available on www.gov.ie.

The overall outcome of that consultation was that the growing of fibre crops such as hemp for the purposes of fibre production only is not currently viable in Ireland. The report concluded that the scaling up of a crop fibre industry would be dependent on numerous factors including the development of stable markets, significant capital investment to increase processing capacity and collaboration with all stakeholders along the supply chain, all of which must be industry led.

Hemp is included as an eligible crop under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability Scheme.