Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. The remit of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, IBTS, is to provide a safe, reliable and robust blood service to the Irish health system. A major objective of the IBTS is to ensure that it always has the necessary programmes and procedures in place to protect both the recipients and the donors of blood and blood products. The IBTS constantly keeps all deferral polices under review to ensure the ongoing safety of blood and the products derived from it.

The IBTS currently has a permanent deferral policy in place for individuals who have resided for more than one year in the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, between the years 1980 and 1996. This policy is designed to prevent the risk of transmission of variant CJD to recipients of blood transfusions. A new case of variant CJD was indicated by the UK in 2016, as a consequence of which a decision was taken by the IBTS at that time that no change would be made to the measures in place to mitigate the risk of transmission of variant CJD in the short term. The IBTS now feels that sufficient time has elapsed to consider whether the measures in place to prevent the transmission of abnormal prions from the food chain, and the resultant risk of asymptomatic individuals being a threat to the blood supply, can be reassessed.

The medical and scientific director of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service will make a presentation on the current state of evidence on the transmission of variant CJD via blood transfusion to a specially convened meeting of the IBTS medical advisory committee in July. The meeting will be presented with the most up-to-date information on the risk of variant CJD. This may lead on to a risk assessment being carried out to inform whether a change to current donor selection guidelines in respect of people who have resided in the UK for a cumulative period of 12 months or more during the period between 1980 and 1996 is warranted. If the medical advisory committee feels that a case might be made for a change in the deferral policy, further consideration of all aspects of the matter will be undertaken with the input of relevant experts. If the outcome of the deliberations of the medical advisory committee and the subsequent expert input indicate that the IBTS could safely relax the current deferral polices regarding variant CJD, a case for such changes will be made to the board of the IBTS.

It is acknowledged that the current deferral arrangements in place for variant CJD can be frustrating for members of the public who find themselves unable to donate blood. However, the safety of the blood supply must remain paramount. The focus of my Department will at all times be to ensure the provision of a quality supply of blood to the Irish health system. Decisions on changes to deferral policies for blood donation must always be supported by rigorous scientific and medical evidence.