Man drops challenge as blood ban lifted
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.
