Man drops challenge as blood ban lifted

The health minister’s decision to end the permanent ban on blood donations by gay men has lead to a young man withdrawing his High Court challenge to the ban.

Minister Simon Harris revealed the decision to remove the ban last month, days after the reform was recommended in a report by the board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS). The ban was introduced in the 1980s when Aids became a major sexual health risk.

The lifting of the ban will allow men who have sex with men to donate blood a year after being sexually active or five years after they have been cleared of a sexually transmitted infection.