Jane Ellison MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, confirmed yesterday that the bar on bisexual and gay men in Northern Ireland donating blood might be lifted as it has been in Great Britain.
In a written answer put before the House, she confirmed: “In Northern Ireland, all men who have had sex with another man (MSM), regardless of their sexual orientation, are currently permanently deferred from donating blood.
“The High Court of Justice of Northern Ireland has recently given judgment in a judicial review that the Secretary of State rather than the Northern Ireland Health Minister is responsible for determining the blood donor deferral period for MSM.
“The Secretary of State is currently considering the implications of this judgment.”
The lifting of the blood donation ban had been treated as a devolved matter, and the Northern Ireland Assembly had rejected the proposal.
