Northern Ireland’s ban on gay men donating blood is to be lifted.



Michelle O’Neill, the new Sinn Féin health minister in the devolved government at Stormont, announced the move on Thursday while on a visit to the Rainbow Project, an LGBT centre in Belfast.



O’Neill said she would lift the ban in favour of a “one-year deferral system” as is the case in the rest of the UK. This means that gay and bisexual men can give blood one year after their last sexual contact with another man, bringing Northern Ireland in line with England, Scotland and Wales, where a similar ban was scrapped in 2011. O’Neill said the new system would come into effect on 1 September.



“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,” she said. “Not even the most advanced tests are 100% reliable, so it is vitally important for every donor to comply with any deferral rules that apply to them. I will instruct the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service accordingly.”

Successive Democratic Unionist health ministers in the Northern Ireland power-sharing executive refused to lift the ban.

Prior to last month’s Northern Ireland assembly elections, DUP ministers even resisted publishing their legal arguments as to why they tried to maintain the ban.



In 2013, the then DUP health minister won the right to withhold the reasons why he continued to impose the ban. Edwin Poots was backed in his efforts to keep the information secret by the attorney general, John Larkin.

John O’Doherty, director of the Rainbow Project, commended O’Neill for lifting the ban. He said: “We are delighted to welcome Minister O’Neill and Deputy Lord Mayor Campbell to the Belfast LGBT Centre today. From this centre, the Rainbow Project delivers counselling, sexual health testing and a range of other vital services for our community and so we are immensely proud that this is where the minister made the announcement that she would be scrapping the lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men.

John O’Doherty and Michelle O’Neill at the Rainbow Project’s offices in Belfast. Photograph: PA

“The Rainbow Project has been campaigning on this issue for over a decade and it is fantastic to finally see this unnecessary ban removed. We are particularly gratified that Minister O’Neill made this announcement only eight days after being appointed, demonstrating her commitment to prioritising issues affecting LGBT people in Northern Ireland. We hope to continue our positive engagements with Minister O’Neill over the coming months and years.”

The student movement in Northern Ireland also welcomed the ban being lifted. The National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland’s LGBT officer, Colin Chan, said: “This is an incredibly significant day for everyone working to deliver equality in Northern Ireland. NUS-USI, alongside many other activists and organisations, has campaigned for years to try and bring an end to the lifetime blood donation ban and I am very pleased that this announcement has been made.

“The blood ban brought massive shame upon Northern Ireland. This announcement is momentous progress and it is very positive that the ban will be scrapped.”

It is understood that DUP fellow ministers in the power-sharing executive at Stormont will not oppose O’Neill’s decision.

The SDLP and the Ulster Unionists also supported the lifting of the ban. However, the UUP health spokesperson, Jo-Anne Dobson, said the party would be questioning what had changed for the DUP-Sinn Féin-run executive given the Democratic Unionists’ previous opposition to lifting the ban.