What Can Be Done?

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A Facebook post from Vera Twomey yesterday

Vera Twomey received a People of the Year award last week for her successful campaign to obtain medicinal cannabis for her daughter Ava, a sufferer of Dravet Syndrome.

Ms Twomey has claimed she confronted Mr Varadkar before the awards ceremony about the passage of legislation to make it easier to access cannabis oil.

Describing him as “rude”, Ms Twomey said the Taoiseach told her he could not support the bill as he had not received promised amendments from its sponsor, Solidarity–People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny.

Ronan Emmett writes:

Is he a liar or not? This cuts to the very heart of our democracy and people like him get away with it when good people say nothing.

Is Leo a liar? If he is he needs to go. This isn’t funny anymore. It’s time for some radical action.

Vera Twomey (Facebook)

Previously: And It Stoned Me

Vera Twomey on Broadsheet

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42 thoughts on “What Can Be Done?

  1. Spud

    Radical action?
    Ah now, don’t forget where you are.
    This is Ireland Ronan.
    We don’t do ‘radical’…

  2. GiggidyGoo

    Leo IS a liar. Blindingly obvious for quite a while. But when he tries it on with an honest person such as Vera Twomey, he’s met his better.
    Can Varadkar actually look his own mother in the eye and present him to her as the son she dreamed of? I doubt it.

    1. anne

      + 1

      Vera’s great. She’s a breath of fresh air really. She’s a determined fighter for her daughter. She’s a great sense of humour too. Been following her for a while now. Posted about her ages back on here.

      It’s been interesting watching an honest hopeful person like her been given the run around by slithering slimy politicians.. she used to actually believe their promises. I think she’s learned they have to be forced to keep promises.

      What sort of an idiot is Leo lying to this woman? She didn’t win that award because she came down in the last shower. This is a woman who walked from Cork to Dublin…and Leo blows her off & lies to her?

      Leo the early riser, needs to get up earlier if he wants to get his lies right..

      Medical THC needs to be legalised asap.. fupp your licenses..AND the lies.

      1. Vanessa

        Hello Anne

        I think allll he has to do is actually *sign the Money Message requirement and send it into the Ceann Comhairle’s office so that it can be released from 2nd stage.

        The Dail can then do the rest.

        Maybe it could be an opportunity to cleanse his aloof treatment of Vera at the POY awards, and his fibbing about Gino’s amendment; and probably a load of other messy stories from INM to the SCU.

        I am open to correction, however I don’t think it is “remove the Money Message” which Vera mentions as the restriction to progressing the legislation.

        *The Constitution (Article 17.2) requires any bill before the Dail that introduces an additional appropriation from the Exchequer must come already stamped with a formal Government recommendation, and this is by way of sign-off from the Taoiseach of the day. This also applies to Amendments.

        Now it is possible that this could be eliminated by providing for it in the next Budget. In my opinion, if the appropriation is already included in the next Finance Bill before the Dail then maybe no requirement for a Money Message sign off.

        A note of caution though. I am not a legal scholar, so its quite likely I have misread or misinterpreted the Money Message process in the Constitution.

          1. anne

            Press d’aul enter button too soon there Vanessa.

            Could yiz maybe get Geno Kenny on Broadsheet on the telly to clear all this up? Dedicate a full hour to it…

            He wouldn’t bare faced lie to people surely… unlike Leo.

            There’s people out there who desperately need medical THC. This needs sorting and soon.

          2. Vanessa

            While I would be in full agreement that the legislation to access Medicinal Cannabis should be introduced again as an item on the agenda, and that it be treated completely separately and differently to the wider debate about Legalising Cannabis; I think you should come on the show yourself.

            You present yourself to be very passionate and knowledgeable about Medicinal Cannabis, and if it helps, I will step out of that particular episode. I’m told you find me annoying and I know you have canvassed for new faces on the panel. So it’s a win win potentially.
            Regards

          3. anne

            ha. You’re not that annoying..I wouldn’t tune in if ye were. :-) John has annoyed me on occasion too & I posted comments saying as much.

            I tend to watch it on replay so I can fast forward ye when yiz are going around in circles.. like the recent stuff about the reasons for the data breach at INM. :-)

            I enjoy your informed contribution & humour for the most part Vanessa!

            I might just come on sometime if I’m welcome, thanks.

      2. Cian

        Medical THC needs needs peer reviewed evidence that is works for specific purposes. Then it can be prescribed and purchased for those purposes.

        1. anne

          Peer reviewed studies have been undertaken to document its efficacy for certain conditions for the past few decades.

          Go educate yourself.

          1. anne

            She was granted the license for medical THC due to its efficacy for her child’s condition, which you are aware is Dravet’s Syndrome.

            She had to prove its efficacy for months on end living over in Holland, separating her family.. when in fact there was no need to do that –

            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5716495/

            Where do you think she got the idea it might work for her child after trying everything else that wouldn’t work?

            Leo the liar would need to start getting up earlier & doing his job.

          2. GiggidyGoo

            Interesting Cian. Instead of pussyfooting around perhaps you would give us your engligtened fact-based information.

          3. Cian

            Thanks for that link. Two things spring to mind
            1. It was dated 2017. So wasn’t available when Vera started looking for this treatment.
            2. This says that there is no data on safe dosage for children.

            As an aside I’m delighted for her that she has found something that helps with the seizures. But she effectively “saw something on the internet” that may help her child and wanted the government to bypass all procedures – on a hunch.

          4. anne

            You’d want to start googling then wouldn’t you. Why say peer reviewed studies need to be done, when there’s plenty of them?

            One thing springs to mind.

            You’ve no idea what you’re talking about. I suggest you follow Vera on facebook if you want to educate yourself and stop insulting the woman.

            THC stopped her daughter’s seizures btw..not just helped.

            And she doesn’t want any procedures bypassed, she wants it legalised.. not just applications for licenses on compassionate grounds, making suffering people jump through hoops.

          5. Cian

            I am trying to educate myself.
            Google isn’t a great place for medical issues – especially when cannabis is concerned – if you believe the Internet cannabis cures everything (or is the worst thing ever – depends on the site).

            I asked if there were studies done – anne provided a link to a study from 2017 (which is after Vera started looking for the oil). So unless you can provide an earlier study – my point stands. (I can’t prove that something does *not* exist.)

            If there was no proper evidence (personal testimony isn’t evidence) that THC works to reduce seizures for Dravet Syndrome then yes – she was asking for process to be bypassed.

            This time last year Vera looked for the Minister to grant a special licence for the oil :

            the Minister for Health can grant a licence for access to cannabis for medical purposes in individual cases when an application is endorsed by a consultant “who is responsible for the management of the patient”.

            In the specific case of Ava Twomey, her consultant has so far not sought this licence from Minister Simon Harris.

            “The public neurologist says there was a lack of public evidence and that she couldn’t oversee Ava’s care because there’s a lack of expertise in the country,” Twomey says.

            http://www.thejournal.ie/vera-twomey-protest-3297258-Mar2017/

            So the State basically said to her – if you can prove that it works for Ava, then you can get a licence. So she went abroad, and proved it worked. And got her licence. And got it subsidised.

            As I said above – I’m delighted that this treatment is working for her.

          6. anne

            “if there were no proper evidence”

            You were given one..there are plenty of others.

            Google will find you plenty of peer reviewed studies.. I suggested you start googling Cian. If you need help in differienting between websites let me know.

            No one should be made move abroad. The evidence Vera provided should qualify for others, but they’d be made move abroad too & go through the same nonsense she had to go through, applying for this license.

        2. SomeSanityPlease

          What utter boll…
          You mean pharma needs to get in front of this to see how they best profit and control the usage! This herb has no fatal attributes so why block it?

      3. louislefronde

        Don’t forget the slithering and slimy officials in the Department of Health, never underestimate their ability to kill initiatives they don’t like or want?

        1. Cian

          Louis, are you talking about specific officials? or are you insinuating that all the officials are “slithering and slimy”?

          1. SomeSanityPlease

            The decision makers in the department of heatlh certain are as described and if you believe they are not in the pockets of big pharma then do some digging.

  3. Paul

    Why would the Taoiseach be receiving amendments to a bill? Amendments are submitted to the Bills Office. There is a formal process for the submission of amendments and deadlines. There is absolutely no process in place for the Taoiseach to receive amendments and act on them. Gino should know this and explain it to Vera. Gino, or any other TD can submit amendments at Report Stage. The bill has been referred to Committee Stage, ie the Joint Oireachtas Health Committee. TDs on this Committee only are permitted to submit amendments at Committee Stage. The bill is currently in the queue waiting for Committee stage debate, like lots of other important bills. Gino doesn’t need the Taoiseach to receive amendments and act on them (this is not possible anyway), because he or his party can submit these amendments to the Bills Office themselves. Then the amendments can be voted for at the Committee or later in the Dail chamber at Report stage. What Vera is describing makes absolutely no sense to me.

    It is also widely acknowledged that the Bill as initiated is a complete mess. Gino himself accepts this. Its a miracle it has survived this far.

  4. :-Joe

    Your dear leoder is just another useless EU bureaucratic middle manager…

    He’s not a leader… he’s not even a politician and he’s not even demcratically elected by public vote at the ballo, yet I’m sure you lot in the 60% -ish can’t wait to vote for him or his colleagues by default, because he’s better than ask-me-hole martin. You’re deluded and holding yourself and us all back with you.

    He’s just another cardboard cutout from a psychadelic facist fantasy narrative that most of you seem to be fine in swallowing whole, allowing yourselves to become a part of another version of the same age old meaningless subplot. .

    If you keep voting for the FF/FG Establishment for private finance intersts party or the now up and running, neo fake-(ANTI)labour wannabe FF/FG party then you all deserve each other.

    Forget about these incapable, incompetant, idealogically corrupt, narcissistic sociopaths.

    VOTE FOR LOCAL INDEPENDANT CANDIDATES WHO ALREADY DO A DECENT JOB OF TRYING TO SOLVE ISSUES AND PROBLEMS THAT MATTER TO REAL PEOPLE

    Wake up from the delusion and start by treating everything you’re being told with a healthy dose of scepticism.

    :-J

      1. rotide

        No, I’m looking for actual evidence to back up her claim.

        You know, like you would do if i said ‘Hey Ron, you have a seagull on your head’

  5. filly buster

    my ex’s mam told me that when Leo was about 10, she used his dad as her GP. She owed him £15 and saw Leo and gave it to him to give to his dad. which he never did.

    Also, a woman I know used to use the same Library as him, and he had a favorite seat and if someone was sitting in it he’d ask the librarian to move them, and if she didnt, he’d sit beside the person in “his” seat and be extra annoying to get them to move, like he’d take off his shoes and be burping and humming n stuff.

    You can say these things are a long time ago, but I could never imagine myself doing either of those things, and i think they are indicative of the type of person he is.

        1. rotide

          A man I met in the pub once went out with the sister of your first teacher and he told me that you used to fart in class and blame the small ginger lad.

          I think this definitively shows us the kind of person you are.

  6. anne

    Here’s Simon Coveney talking in the Dail today about medicinal THC & Vera Twomey.

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1783999744972499&id=450136775025476

    He said he got to know Vera & her “son” Ava very well.

    Seriously. Silly.

    I mean when you’re reading the words prepared for you, while you’re scratching your backside in the Dail bar, would you not think it might be worth having a read over your scripts beforehand?

    Nothings not happening. You can get an import license. Great isn’t it. Useless fupps.

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