An Irish girl who suffers from a rare form of epilepsy has been granted a licence for medical cannabis here.

Ava Barry's mother, Vera Twomey, says this means the family will be home for Christmas.

She has been living in Holland in order to access treatment.

Posting on Facebook, Vera Twomey said: "I just want 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 she wanted to thank everybody for their support, adding that the family will be home for Christmas.

Ms Twomey, a medicinal cannabis campaigner, has previously walked from Cork to Dublin to raise awareness.

Ava suffers from a severe form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome, which can be treated with medicinal cannabis oil.

Speaking to Newstalk earlier this year, Ms Twomey said her daughter's seizures had reduced by as much as 90%.

"We're very, very sad that we've had to leave the country. We tried so hard, all we wanted to do was to stay at home," she said.