‘The minister needs to change the law to save my daughter’s life’

A desperate mother has pleaded with Health Minister Simon Harris to legalise medicinal cannabis and allow her daughter access to potentially life-changing treatment.

Mother-of-four Vera Twomey made her plea last night as she began a protest walk from Cork to Dublin, where she plants to mount a vigil at the Dáil to highlight her daughter Ava’s plight.

Ms Twomey, who called off a similar protest walk last November after Mr Harris intervened, said last week’s rejection by the HSE of an application on Ava’s behalf for access to medicinal cannabis on compassionate grounds was the final straw.