We know the importance of giving blood. It is tremendously important that people give of their time and their blood to feed the reserves of blood that are needed for operations, emergencies, etc. During the Covid pandemic, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service has had great difficulty on the one hand in abiding by the advice of the health authorities and keeping people safe and, on the other hand, continuing to provide a safe and constant supply of blood for our hospitals and emergency services.

The reason I raise this issue today is that while I understand that the blood transfusion service has had to put in place restrictions to ensure safety is maintained and public health guidelines are followed, it seems now some of those restrictions, particularly as we move through the vaccination programme, are a little bit arbitrary. For example, one of my fellow constituents who is a friend of mine and a regular blood donor contacted me about this issue. He is 71 years of age. Due to the fact that he is over 70 years of age and notwithstanding that he has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 for some time now, he is prohibited from giving blood. That makes no sense to me when we have people who are willing, able and fit enough to give blood. I know that in the normal circumstances those over the age of 70 have to provide an annual certification from their doctor. There is no difficulty with that. However, now we have a situation whereby the guidelines issued by the blood transfusion service restrict those people from giving blood.

They are just one category of other people who are arbitrarily denied the right or the opportunity to give blood, and it seems to make no sense. I understand it is under review, but it is an issue on which we should make a statement as a House. We should say that if there are people who are willing and able to give blood and who can do so safely - this is a person who is fully vaccinated - they should not only be allowed to do so but should be encouraged to do so. We should be encouraging everybody who can give blood to give blood wherever possible.