Connacht Tribune
Galway campaigner wins long battle on blood donation
A Galway man who has fought a very long battle to enable gay and bisexual men can donate blood has cautiously welcomed a signalled change in policy by Government.
The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, announced plans recently that will enable men who have sex with men (MSM) to donate blood based on individualised risk assessment – a process that will apply to all donors similar to that used in the UK.
Tomás Heneghan from Castlegar first came to public attention in 2016 when he took a High Court case against the state seeking to lift a lifelong ban on gay men donating blood – a policy that came about during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
Scientific evidence has long since shown that there is no basis for a continued veto on gay or bisexual men’s blood, and in 2017 a twelve-month gap since having sex – known as a deferral and applying to MSM only – was introduced ending the lifetime ban.
However, Minister Donnelly has said from March 2022, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) will reduce this to four months – an interim measure ahead of the full removal of restrictions on MSM.
For Mr Heneghan – who currently travels to the UK to donate blood – this was welcome news provided it wasn’t put on the long finger by IBTS, not only for MSM who want to donate blood but for confidence in the safety of blood donations overall.
“There’s always been two parts to this – on one side, personally it often excluded me from being able to donate blood in Ireland but on the flip side, there was always the potential for someone to donate unsafe blood.
“A man could have sex with a woman and neither might know if they were infected. There was nothing to stop them going the next morning and making a donation – this new system will take account of that risk across the board,” said the 30-year-old who is now based in Dublin.
When the new system is introduced – which is understood to be taking time because of a move to a more paperless approach by the IBTS – all potential donors will be asked if they have had sex with a new partner in the three months previous to donating.
If so, this will lead to a further set of questions to establish how safe it is for them to donate.
This methodology has been in use in the across the water since last year and with ongoing shortages of blood in Ireland, around 500 units have had to be imported from the UK to meet demand in the last 12 months.
“Considering that all came at a time when this system was in place in the UK, it was difficult to see why Ireland was different,” said Mr Heneghan, adding that while this will increase the number of people eligible to donate, it was unlikely to make up the current shortfall.
“I will fully acknowledge the fact that gay and bisexual men make up a relatively small proportion of the population and it may not lead to a huge boom in new repeat donors, if you get one new gay man on the system, that could be three or four donations per year,” he said.
There had been widespread political support for a change in policy in recent years, said Mr Heneghan, but he believed ongoing resistance within the blood service slowed down change.
“While the Minister for Health had the power to change the policy, they tended to defer to the blood service. Perhaps that was just because they didn’t want to get involved in the detail and preferred to leave it up to the IBTS, but I would have been critical that there wasn’t more done at a political level and that various ministers didn’t intervene,” he said.
True success will be the day he can donate here in Ireland, said Mr Heneghan – what will be likely be the 20th donation he’s made since his first, just a few days after he turned 18.
“It’ll be the day that I’m sitting with that form in front of me, and the questions that I’ve answered so many times before [about MSM] will no longer be there – that’ll be when it sinks in.
“I will be continuing to follow up to get the date when it’ll be in place, but at least we’ve been told it’ll be by the end of this year,” he said.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
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