Ulster Unionist Health Spokesperson, Jo-Anne Dobson MLA, has welcomed the DUP U-turn on the ban on gay men donating blood. The Upper Bann MLA was commenting after Simon Hamilton announced that Northern Ireland's lifetime ban on gay men donating blood may shortly be lifted.

Jo-Anne Dobson said:

“I welcome the DUP’s change of positon in regards to the ban on gay men donating blood. The decision to lift the ban across the rest of the UK was made over four years ago and only after irrefutable medical evidence supported the move. Not for the first time however Northern Ireland was left trailing behind the rest of the UK as successive DUP Health Ministers allowed their own outdated and irrational personal prejudices to get in the way of medical progress.

“The High Court ruling in 2013 that found Edwin Poots’ position to be ‘irrational’ should have produced a U-turn but instead it only seemed to harden the DUP’s opposition to lifting the ban.

“The unfounded continuation of the ban in Northern Ireland was intolerable, especially when the demand for blood here has never been higher. Around 500 people need to accept lifesaving blood every week across Northern Ireland and to meet this demand we need around 300 people to give blood each and every day.

“When the demand for blood is often higher than the availability of stocks it meant that the continuation of the ban here was ridiculous given local hospitals receive blood donations from Great Britain where no such life-time ban on gay men exists.

“I trust that when Simon Hamilton now receives the medical evidence he is waiting for, which will again inevitably state that the ban is not necessary, he will ensure the policy is adopted by all members of the DUP – including those who have acted so irrationally in the past.”