The lifetime ban on gay men donating blood in Northern Ireland is to be lifted, the North's new Minister for Health Michelle O'Neill announced on Thursday.
The Sinn Féin assembly member said she was to introduce legislation to rescind the ban when on a visit to the LGBT advocacy group, the Rainbow Project, in central Belfast.
The ban on gay men donating blood was introduced as a result of the 1980s Aids crisis. It was lifted in England, Scotland and Wales in 2011.
In these countries new rules were introduced that allowed gay men who had not had sex with another man for a year or more to make blood donations.
The same system will apply in Northern Ireland once the lifetime ban is lifted.
The ban was maintained by successive DUP health ministers in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin had long called for the removal of the ban and when Ms O’Neill took over the health porfolio in the new Northern Executive last week there was an expectation of a change to the legislation.
The department said on Thursday that Ms O’Neill’s Executive colleagues had agreed to her decision, indicating that the DUP would not challenge the removal of the ban.
It added that the decision followed on a Court of Appeal ruling in March that confirmed that this was a devolved matter, and “substantial new evidence showing that the risk of contracting HIV from donated blood is lower with a one-year deferral than with a lifetime ban”.
“My first responsibility in this matter is patient safety,” said Ms O’Neill. “Evidence from across the UK has provided assurance that the risk is lower with a one-year deferral. My decision is based solely on the evidence regarding the safety of donated blood,” she said.
The Minister added it was vital that gay blood donors complied with the rule that to give blood they must not have had sex with another man for a year or more,
“The safety of donated blood depends on two things: donor selection and the testing of blood. Every blood donation is tested for HIV and a number of other organisms. Not even the most advanced tests are 100 per cent reliable, so it is vitally important for every donor to comply with any deferral rules that apply to them,” she said.
“I will instruct the NI Blood Transfusion Service (NIBTS) accordingly. To allow NIBTS adequate preparation time, the new policy will come into effect on September 1st 2016.”
In March this year the former DUP Northern Ireland health minister Edwin Poots succeeded in an attempt to overturn rulings that his ban on gay men giving blood was irrational and infected by apparent bias.
Appeal judges also held there was no basis for concluding that the decision was predetermined by his Christian beliefs. They further ruled that it was for Stormont’s health minister, rather than the UK health secretary, to decide whether homosexual men should be permitted to donate.
By a further, 2-1 majority, the Court of Appeal concluded the current maintenance of the lifetime prohibition was not disproportionate or contrary to EU law.
Subsequently a gay man, who was granted anonymity, sought to challenge the ban at the British Supreme Court. Ms O'Neill's decision may now mean there will be no reason for this challenge to proceed.
