Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan remains in intensive care after falling ill during an EU meeting. 

A planned press conference was cancelled on Tuesday afternoon after Mr O’Donovan, who is Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, was hospitalised. 

The Limerick native had been chairing a meeting of the telecommunications ministers of the EU at the UL Sports Arena.

It is now understood that the Fine Gael TD is being cared for at University Hospital Limerick, where he remains in intensive care. 

Limerick Live reported on Tuesday that the politician was taken by ambulance from University of Limerick after ‘suffering a seizure’. He had been hosting an informal meeting of EU telecoms ministers at the time. 

My O’Donovan has spoken out in the past about his struggles with photosensitivity, which can translate into epilepsy. He has previously collapsed in a fit while speaking in the Dáil. 

Over the summer, Mr O’Donovan was also hospitalised during a trip to Belgium. The TD had been in Brussels for meetings as part of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU. It is unknown if the incidents are linked.

Before being hospitalised on Tuesday, the minister had hit back against critics within his own party, stressing that those who commented on his health were the ‘ultimate in betrayal’. 

According to the Irish Times, the TD suggested he had both been criticised over the budget and questioned on whether his health situation made it suitable for him to remain in his role. 

A cabinet source from within Fine Gael was later quoted as saying there would very likely be a conversation in the near future about whether Mr O’Donovan was ‘well enough’ to stay in his role. 

Mr O’Donovan had been at the centre of a post-budget controversy regarding a failure to secure funding for his heavily publicised ‘culture card’ initiative for 16 and 17-year-olds. 

He then reemerged in another controversy over providing €20 million less in funding to RTÉ than agreed under the terms of a 2024 deal.