Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The Minister of State is welcome. I appreciate that this is obviously a very busy period for him and his Government colleagues, not least the Minister for Health. In such circumstances, I understand that the Minister cannot be available to be with us this afternoon.

It is fair to say we can all can see that the best elements of our health care services work best when they work together, in particular when they work in a unified way and deliver good, positive health care for people right across the island, in all of our Thirty-two Counties. That is demonstrable in paediatric cardiac services where children from the North are able to avail of a world class service here in Dublin and in the cross-Border cancer care provision provided by Altnagelvin Hospital, which has seen significant investment from the Executive and, indeed, from the Government here as well.

This issue came to my attention from talking to work colleagues here in Leinster House who were resident in the North or in Britain, and who, perhaps, formally tried to donate blood here in the State or wanted to do so upon coming home, but found that, because they were resident in either the North or Britain, were unable to donate blood because of the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, CJD, crisis, which we all remember as mad cow disease or BSE. What I am asking is, given the positive understanding we have of cross-border co-operation and the identifiable need for additional blood donations in this jurisdiction, whether consideration can be given to reviewing that ban with a view, ultimately, to lifting it and also, given the passage of time, if there is now scientific and medical evidence that points towards freeing up such people. A number of the people who said this to me are actually Members of the other House, including Deputies Quinlivan and Ó Broin, who was a Belfast city councillor during that period, and Senator Conway-Walsh, who is our group leader in the Seanad and who was working in Britain at the time. All of them would wish to step up and heed the call from the Minister, the Government and the Department.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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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.

Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his concise response. There is a glimmer of hope in it, and I always try to look for one. I look forward to the IBTS bringing forward that review and the assessment in July this year. I am sure we will watch it closely, as will the Government.