On 1 December last year the Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016 that I tabled passed Second Stage and on 9 November 2017 it was agreed that it would go to Committee Stage.

Last week, I received two documents on the same day, one from the Ceann Comhairle, for which I thank him, and one from the office of the Minister for Health stating that the Bill will be stifled on a money matter. It is pretty outrageous that people are playing politics with people's lives. The Minister will acknowledge that families, such as Vera Twomey's, and other individuals should never go through the torture that the Twomey family has gone through. They should not be medical exiles in this country. People should be prescribed medication in Ireland.

I think the Minister for Health is on our side in some ways and he should let this Bill go forward to Committee Stage. Let us amend it together because it is not perfect, to help citizens of this country.

The most appropriate person to decide whether any patient in this country should access any form of medical product, authorised or other, is a clinician and any time a clinician has sought a licence for a product such as medicinal cannabis during my time as Minister for Health it has been granted, including in the most recent case.

In respect of the Deputy's Bill I understood from the debate I participated in here that he had undertaken to do a lot of work to make that Bill acceptable to a majority of this House which it is not now. I know the Deputy will liaise with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health in that regard and that is where it should best proceed.

It is about the money message.

It is the money message.

The Deputy needs to do his work first.