THE Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB) is to seek a meeting with members of the gay community to discuss the board's refusal to take blood from homosexual and bisexual men.
This follows a complaint from the lesbian, gay and bisexual rights officer of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), Mr Duane Farrell.
After having his offer of blood refused, he said, "I find it hard to believe that in a society which believes that homosexuals are equal citizens, such discrimination exists and is tolerated considering that all blood used has to be screened regardless."
In a statement yesterday, the BTSB said that most western states had asked gay men to refrain from giving blood.
"While all blood donations are now tested for dangerous viruses, there is still a risk that an infectious donation might not test positive in the first weeks or months after the donor becomes infected. For this reason we still need to ask donors who have any possible increased risk of recent infection that they do not give blood at this time.
"We accept that not everyone will share this view; as patterns of risk for disease transmission in the community change, or as technical advances increase our ability to screen blood for infection, we will review and hopefully amend, this policy.
"However, at present the worldwide blood transfusion consensus believes that it represents the best approach to ensuring the supply of safe blood for patients needing transfusion."
The president of the USI, Mr Colman Byrne, said there was a long history of co operation between third level institutions and the BTSB. "Some colleges organise buses to visit Pelican House, while others actually let the BTSB operate from within the colleges. USI, therefore, calls for an immediate review of this policy, and will advise member colleges to also review the matter."