Malcolm Noonan: Department ignoring hemp’s 'huge potential'
Mr Heydon said 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.
A former minister of state, whose remit included nature, has claimed the Department of Agriculture and the Government generally do not appear to have any interest in farmers growing industrial hemp.
Green Party senator Malcolm Noonan said industrial hemp has huge potential and could be used in many applications.
These include paper and packaging, construction and building materials, agriculture, gardening, bioplastics and composites, health and nutrition, and in environmental and industry applications.
But he told the Seanad there does not appear to be any interest in the Department of Agriculture or in government more generally about this absolute wonder crop that could be grown at scale in Ireland.
Some farmers are growing it in trial crops, and there have been certain attempts through Teagasc in Oak Park to grow it.
“I really think the Government should be giving active consideration to the growing of industrial hemp at scale in Ireland," Mr Noonan said.
“It has huge potential for embodied carbon, but also from the environmental growing of the crop. I would welcome an opportunity to have a debate with the minister for agriculture about this,” he said.
Mr Noonan said recent statistics from EnergyCloud show that in the 314 days since the programme for government was enacted, 1,169GWh of renewable energy has been wasted in this country through what it calls dispatch down.
“The approximate retail value of this is €414m, equivalent to 390m tanks of hot water that could be deployed to low-income households. This is a scandal," he said.
“All it requires is the minister to make a political commitment that the Government would look at this dispatch-down energy and work with EnergyCloud."
Mr Noonan said EnergyCloud does wonderful work with energy retailers at a pilot scale in bringing dispatch-down energy to households.
But it could be done at a much larger scale, given that 380,000 households up to November 2025 were in energy arrears. Meanwhile, some 410,000 households are receiving the fuel allowance.
“This energy could be used, but it is being wasted. We need a debate on energy poverty in this House. I would welcome the opportunity for the minister to be invited in to do so,” he said.
House leader senator Seán Kyne said the construction technology centre in the University of Galway is the centre for new methods of construction.
Suggesting that Mr Noonan might wish to engage with it on its role, he said he would certainly request a debate with the climate, energy, and environment minister, Darragh O'Brien, on energy poverty.
Laois Independent TD Brian Stanley also asked agriculture minister Martin Heydon in the Dáil some months ago if his department has actively examined the growing of hemp, which is beneficial to many by-products that would help in industry and agriculture.
Mr Heydon said 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.
As part of the consultation, stakeholders were invited to consider a number of questions.
These relate to existing markets, the strengths and weaknesses of fibre crops, and the scalability of the fibre crop/hemp industry, taking into account market size and value, industry processing capacity and economic returns along the supply chain.
The main finding of the report was that the growing of fibre crops such as hemp for the purposes of fibre production only is not currently viable in Ireland.
However, hemp can be successfully grown in Ireland. It offers opportunities for diversification and crop rotation while delivering environmental benefits.
Potential markets also exist for hemp fibre, with its use in the construction industry offering the most significant opportunity.
While the overall outcome of the consultation is that the growing of fibre crops such as hemp is not currently viable, it is a matter for the industry to address and bring forward a proposal containing viable options that can be further explored.
The minister added that hemp is included as an eligible crop under the basic income support for sustainability scheme.
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 (HPRA), which operates under the auspices of the Department of Health.
