‘Leave my health out of it’: Anonymous briefings, a defiant response and a dramatic turn of events

“I’ll hold my own with anybody,” the Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan told reporters in the lobby of the University of Limerick’s sports campus last Tuesday. “But leave my health out of it.”It was part of a typically bullish response by the combative O’Donovan when the press asked him about reports in the Sunday newspapers which questioned his health and his political future. He mounted an impassioned defence of the rights of all people to participate in public life, including at the Cabinet table.READ MOREIs diversity in politics dead? O’Donovan, who has epilepsy, was responding to anonymous briefings from within his own party which had raised questions about his temperament, but also whether he was healthy enough to continue in his role. These briefings, he said, were “the ultimate in betrayal” – not just of him, but of people with disabilities or those with neurological and other life-altering or limiting conditions. He judged it a “slap in the face” to all these groups, and a “sad day for Irish politics”[ Patrick O’Donovan remains in intensive care after taking ill on TuesdayOpens in new window ]Within hours, events had taken a dramatic turn.About lunchtime on Tuesday, rumours began to circulate that he had left one of the sessions of the informal meeting of European Union telecommunications ministers he was hosting at the University of Limerick.The Co Limerick TD reappeared for a “family photo” of delegates attending the meeting, after which he went to a private room, where it is understood he suffered a seizure.Outside, an ambulance appeared at an emergency exit of the sports arena and screens promoting the State’s EU presidency were deputised as a privacy shield.O’Donovan’s Garda driver was prominent in rearranging the parked motorcade of black luxury vehicles and people carriers that had ferried the VIPs to the event, making room for a second ambulance. Gardaí said there was a “medical incident” inside.Shortly after 2pm, officials from O’Donovan’s department confirmed that he had been taken ill, and a planned press conference with visiting EU commissioner Henna Virkkunen was cancelled.As O’Donovan was transported to hospital, followed by a Garda car and his ministerial car, there was a sense of shock among those left on the UL campus as delegates began to leave. Back in Dublin, where word spread quickly about the events, there was widespread concern and good wishes for the Minister.O’Donovan was transferred to the intensive care unit at University Hospital Limerick, where he remained seriously ill as of late this week.Politics and the health of high-profile peopleThe briefings about his health, his reaction to the coverage, and his subsequent illness have raised inevitable questions about political life, the personal health of high-profile people and the participation of those with different abilities in public life.O’Donovan has had health issues before this year. In 2023, while serving as minister of state, he was taken to hospital by ambulance after becoming unwell while answering a question in the Dáil chamber.This week’s incident was O’Donovan’s second hospitalisation in a little over three months, after falling ill in Brussels while on official business. O’Donovan reportedly cancelled a planned trip to Strasbourg last week after his team concluded that he was not well enough to travel. In a statement on Tuesday, after O’Donovan’s comments, Epilepsy Ireland pointedly said people with the condition successfully pursue careers across every sector, including in leadership and high-profile positions.It is vital, the organisation said, that individuals “are assessed on their abilities, experience and circumstances rather than on perceptions or stereotypes associated with the existence of a medical condition” – adding that nobody should have their professional capabilities “questioned solely because they are living with epilepsy”.Away from his health problems, O’Donovan has been making headlines. Earlier this month, he found himself at the centre of a series of post-budget controversies, largely of his own making. Reports emanating from his department of a €100 “culture card” in the budget came to nought – prompting obvious embarrassment for him – while he ended up in a post-budget row over RTÉ funding which annoyed his bosses, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris.Throughout his career, the Minister has made a habit of a chin-out style of confrontational politics which has endeared him to some – but rubbed others the wrong way. As a Minister, he has locked horns with RTÉ and the Arts Council. He is widely known for a keen political mind and waspish sense of humour – but also a devastatingly sharp tongue. His public appearances are often reflective of his personality – colourful and memorable – but sometimes feeding cycles of conflict and recrimination, behind closed political doors and in public.Contemporaries describe him as a socially conservative, outspoken politician who has climbed the ranks with tremendous staying power. An ally says that there are “no layers” to the Minister. “What you see is what you get ... makes every judgment call in the best interests of the people he serves,” they say.This person adds that there is “nothing Machiavellian” about O’Donovan. “[He] just goes and does it and to hell with the consequences.”[ Epilepsy: What is it and what does the future hold as treatments improve?Opens in new window ]Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar says O’Donovan has “some real strengths” and was a “highly competent” minister. “He might have ruffled a few feathers at times, but sometimes that was needed,” Varadkar says, adding that he could always be relied on to go to bat for the party.The benign view is not universal. Many who have worked with him at close quarters bemoan his conflict-driven style of doing politics, seeing it as causing unnecessary difficulties for himself and colleagues.What happens in politics when a stand-in is needed?All of these matters are put aside for now. O’Donovan is seriously ill, and the road ahead will be decided on by himself, his family and his doctors. After that, his future political career will be a matter for him and his boss, Harris.O’Donovan has already spent more than a month-and-a-half recuperating after he suffered a seizure in Brussels while attending an EU meeting in early July. He returned to work at the beginning of September. There are various arrangements that can be made while a Minister needs to take time off. He or she can authorise their secretary general to deputise for them, as Harris – on paternity leave following the birth of his third child – has done.The process for a Minister fully stepping aside from their role for a period of time is entirely ad hoc, extemporised when Helen McEntee became the first Minister in the history of the State to take maternity leave in 2021 (she later did so again in 2022-23). What happened then is that the Taoiseach allocated her portfolio to another Minister – first Heather Humphreys and then Simon Harris – and she remained a member of the Government, becoming Minister without Portfolio. It is somewhat convoluted, but constitutionally sound.And of course Ministers have served while dealing with serious illness. Brian Lenihan remained as minister for finance despite a diagnosis of terminal cancer in 2009-10. His father, Brian Lenihan snr, underwent a liver transplant in 1989 while serving at Cabinet as tánaiste and minister for foreign affairs.Many TDs have stepped aside while dealing with illness – as Richard Boyd-Barrett did last year and Sinn Féin’s Denise Mitchell said this week she would do after surgery for cancer.Around Leinster House, speculation about O’Donovan’s future is present but muted, with many politicians in all parties expressing sympathy and worry for him when the news that he had taken ill broke. On Tuesday, his Cabinet colleague, Fianna Fáil’s James Lawless, told RTÉ that O’Donovan was a “solid worker at Cabinet” who made strong contributions on several issues.“I just wish him and his family the best as they cope with this difficult time,” he said.The indications are that O’Donovan intends to return to Cabinet. On Friday, a statement was issued on his Instagram account on behalf the “O’Donovan family”, saying his “interdisciplinary team” was “working with him to ensure his return to his department as soon as new treatment has bedded down”. It added that O’Donovan was “heartened by the support for his long-term Cabinet career demonstrated by his colleagues”.