Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 November 2016
362. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health when he plans to remove the one year deferral for men who have sex with men, MSM, blood donations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33593/16]
View answerIn June of this year, I accepted a recommendation from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service that (a) the lifetime deferral policy for men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating blood should be reduced to a period of one year following their last sexual encounter with a man and (b) all donors who have had a sexually transmitted infection (STI) should be deferred from donating blood for a period of at least five years from that infection (current deferral periods vary depending on the STI concerned).
The IBTS advise that these changes will be implemented by the end of January 2017.
