Ava home for Christmas after mum Vera Twomey secures licence for medical cannabis

Well-known medical cannabis campaigner Vera Twomey has said her daughter Ava has been granted a licence to take medical cannabis.

Ava suffers from a severe form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome.

Vera had campaigned strongly to get her daughter a licence for medical cannabis here in Ireland - including a mammoth walk from Cork to Dublin - but moved to the Netherlands to access the treatment instead, when the campaign in Ireland stalled.​

However, Vera has announced her family will be returning home from the Netherlands in time for Christmas.

In a short Facebook Live video, Vera thanked those who had supported her.

"I just wanted to let you know that we have some really, really good news that Ava's been granted the licence for the medical cannabis and we're coming home," she said.

"We'll be home for Christmas and she's doing really, really well and just can't wait to get back," Vera added.

She said they would be home "as soon as they can".

Health Minister Simon Harris confirmed the licence in the Dáil earlier today.

"I'm very pleased I was in a position to sign another licence for a citizen in this country, a little girl, to access a medicinal cannabis product," he said.

He said it was the third such licence that he had signed.

He added that all licences that had been validly submitted with the support of a monitoring consultant have been granted.