Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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1815. To ask the Minister for Health the rationale for the delay in implementing an individualised risk assessment for blood donation, particularly in view of recently imported bulk consignments of blood from the UK where gay men, bisexual men, transgender men and men who have sex with men can donate more freely; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21110/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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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 announced a range of changes to their existing deferral policies in December of 2021, following a review of existing donor deferral policy by an independent expert group. These changes were to be introduced in phases, with the first phase involving the reduction in the deferral period for Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) scheduled for March of 2022, and the second phase, introducing a system of individual assessment, to occur later in 2022. There has been no delay in the implementation of this change in policy, as the first phase was introduced on March 28th 2022, and the second phase is expected to follow later in 2022.

The IBTS have advised that "The next phase is very complex and will take time. It requires significant modification to our existing blood systems, work which will take place this year and will see individualised donor risk assessment implemented in full. During the implementation period, blood donors, patient organisations and HIV Ireland will be included in the process. We believe this is a safe approach which will ensure the system is fully validated when we introduce it. There will also be a substantial element of staff training and donor education, elements which are essential as we are transforming the current process."