AVA BARRY – A young girl with a rare form of epilepsy whose mother campaigned fiercely to have her granted a medicinal cannabis licence – has died. She was 13 years of age.

Ava’s mother Vera Twomey caught the nation’s attention during a two-and a-half year campaign to secure medical cannabis to treat her daughter. 

Ava was diagnosed Dravet’s syndrome when she was a baby, a rare form of severe epilepsy. She suffered from severe and prolonged seizures through out her life, which her mother highlighted as part of her campaign.

Twomey managed to obtain the medicinal marijuana licence form then-Health Minister Simon Harris in 2017, after years of campaigning which included two 260-kilometre walks from Cork to the Dáil in 2016 and 2017.

Ava died last night peacefully at Cork University Hospital surrounded by family.

People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny – who was heavily involved in Vera’s Twomey’s campaign – paid tribute to Ava this evening, saying that her mother’s campaign had led to better access to medicinal cannabis for children in need.

“It’s a very, very sad time for the family and the many people that supported Vera and Ava to get access to medicinal cannabis,” he said.

Obviously Vera’s family had to go through a long, long, long process to get access for Ava. But that process had made it easier for other families to get access.