Advertisement

Gay blood ban: rules on gay men donating to be relaxed further

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has announced further liberalisation to the rules restrictin...
James Wilson
James Wilson

15.19 22 Dec 2021


Share this article


Gay blood ban: rules on gay me...

Gay blood ban: rules on gay men donating to be relaxed further

James Wilson
James Wilson

15.19 22 Dec 2021


Share this article


Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has announced further liberalisation to the rules restricting gay and bisexual men from donating blood. 

Currently, a man is ineligible to donate blood if he has had sex with another man within the past 12 months. The current proposal will see that time limit cut to four months in March and then abolished entirely later on in 2022; it will be replaced instead by individual assessment. 

Minister Donnelly described it as, “A progressive move that I hope will be widely welcomed.” 

Advertisement

Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer, who became one of Ireland’s first openly gay TDs when he came out in 2012, said Ireland was part of a worldwide trend: 

“This was brought in around the world at the height of the AIDS epidemic,” Senator Buttimer told Newstalk

“But up to today, there’s been a significant number of countries with no restrictions - last year Brazil, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, America, Australia, all amended and changed the rules.” 

Worldwide trend

Until recently, Ireland imposed a lifelong ban on any man who had ever had sex with another man. The policy dated back to the 1980s when there were fears that HIV positive blood donors would infect hospital patients. 

However, in 2017 the lifetime ban was replaced with a requirement of 12 months abstinence. At the time, then Minister for Health Simon Harris said the change was made to encourage more people to consider blood donation: 

“Only 3% of the eligible population of Ireland are active blood donors – yet one in 4 people will require a blood transfusion at some time in their lives.”

In the United Kingdom, all four National Health Services now allow gay or bisexual men in monogamous relationships to donate blood at any time. The previous three month deferral for gay men was replaced with a ban on donations from any individual, regardless of gender, who has had anal sex with a new partner in the past three months. 

Main image: A donor gives blood. Picture by: Bernd Wüstneck/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB.


Share this article


Read more about

Blood Banks Blood Donation Healthcare Lgbt

Most Popular