{"id":657010,"date":"2026-10-16T23:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T23:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/657010\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T23:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T23:08:13","slug":"patrick-odonovan-to-return-to-work-when-new-treatment-has-bedded-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/657010\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick O’Donovan to return to work when new treatment has \u2018bedded down\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEDIA MINISTER PATRICK O\u2019Donovan will return to work \u201cas soon as new treatment has bedded down\u201d, his family has said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan was taken by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick on Tuesday afternoon after he became unwell<\/a> at an informal meeting of EU communications ministers at the University of Limerick.<\/p>\n

He remained in intensive care on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement shared on his Instagram this evening, his family said: \u201cPatrick\u2019s interdisciplinary team at University Hospital Limerick are working with him to ensure his return to his department as soon as new treatment has bedded down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is heartened by the support for his long-term Cabinet career demonstrated by his colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister returned to work in September after a period of illness over the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In July, O\u2019Donovan, who has been open about his experience of living with epilepsy, became unwell and was hospitalised in Belgium before being flown back to Ireland on the government\u2019s private jet a few days later<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was reported in the Sunday Times last weekend that he did not travel to an EU meeting in Strasbourg earlier this month due to illness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before becoming unwell on Tuesday, O\u2019Donovan hit out at quotes from anonymous government ministers about his health in last weekend\u2019s Sunday papers, describing them as \u201churtful\u201d and \u201cthe ultimate betrayal\u201d.<\/p>\n

Minister for Finance Simon Harris has thanked Fine Gael members and supporters for their well-wishes for O\u2019Donovan and his family in recent days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile he remains in hospital, Patrick continues to receive fantastic care from the staff of the HSE at University Hospital Limerick. We are all hoping for his swift recovery and return to work as soon as is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said O\u2019Donovan \u201cis a valued member of Fine Gael and the Cabinet\u201d who has served the people of Limerick for over two decades, adding that he serves with distinction in a key government department \u201cand naturally will continue to do so\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party both in Limerick and nationally is behind him and wish him, Eileen and his children every strength during this challenging period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris acknowledged that O\u2019Donovan has been open about his health challenges and said he had seen how he worked\u00a0diligently and competently in every role he has been entrusted with.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommentary about his health and political future by anonymous sources was hurtful, has no place in the Fine Gael party and will not be tolerated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I am on paternity leave, I remain in contact with his family. l look forward to welcoming Patrick back to his cabinet duties as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEDIA MINISTER PATRICK O\u2019Donovan will return to work \u201cas soon as new treatment has bedded down\u201d, his family…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,1396,43,13400],"class_list":["post-657010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick","tag-news","tag-patrick-o"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}