Gay Blood

Gay blood ban to be shifted in line with the UK…

Mick Fealty on June 2, 2016, 6:35 pm

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Here’s one of the first political benefits of shifting serious ministerial offices, Michelle O’Neill announces that Northern Ireland will move towards the one year deferral system common across the UK… Ms O’Neill said on Thursday that she would lift the ban in favour of a ‘”one-year deferral system” as is the case in the rest of the UK. This means that gay and bisexual men can give blood one year after their last sexual contact with another man. Michelle O’Neill …

“fair minded and informed observer could not conclude there was a real risk of apparent bias…”

Mick Fealty on March 16, 2016, 10:44 pm

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Hey ho, so the former Minister for Health Edwin Poots has won his appeal on the so-called ‘Gay Blood’ issue… There is no basis for the conclusion that the Minister’s decision in this case was predetermined by his Christian beliefs and there is ample evidence to indicate that the Minister approached the decision-making by evaluating the competing factors before adopting on a precautionary basis the status quo. “We do not consider that the fair minded and informed observer could conclude that …