A bill to legalise cannabis for medicinal use has been abandoned, because it would allegedly contains too many legal issues.

The bill from Gino Kenny passed the Dail last December - but has been stalled at the Oireachtas health committee ever since. The committee has now been told that there are too many legal difficulties with the bill, and that it requires too many amendments.

Campaigners including Vera Twomey, whose daughter requires medicinal cannabis products, had been calling for the bill to be treated as a matter of urgency. The committee says the bill poses too many legal issues, and could act as a Trojan Horse to allow cannabis be legalised entirely.

The Clondalkin TD behind the bill, Gino Kenny, says he will try to get it added back to the Dáil agenda "there was pre-legislative scrutinty and that finished in April."

"Since then I have been asking for the report to be produced, but it only turns up two days before that Dail's summer break. That is a deliberate move", said the TD.