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Communications Minister Patrick O'Donovan is set to resume his duties on August 31st following an epilepsy episode in Brussels. The minister, who has been managing the condition since 2011, confirms that while the event was a setback, he is ready to continue his work. O'Donovan will appear before the European Parliament's ITRE Committee next week to discuss digital infrastructure and telecommunications.
TD previously revealed his epilepsy and said his ‘worst nightmare’ was that people would think he was drunk during an episode Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan has said his epilepsy does not 'impede' him once it is managed.
Photograph: CollinsO’Donovan’s department confirmed he would return on August 31st and is planning to travel to the European Parliament to appear before a committee on Tuesday. On July 7th, O’Donovan was attending a cultural event in Brussels to mark the State’s presidency of the Council of the European Union He remained under close medical supervision for a number of days before returning to Ireland on July 10th to recover at home.
The Swiss politician and the alleged drugging and sexual abuse of an Irish girl and her motherDepartment of Communications said: “Minister O’Donovan will return on Monday next when he will be appearing before the ITRE Committee at the The European Parliament committee covers O’Donovan’s brief of digital infrastructure and telecommunications. The Minister revealed last year that he had been diagnosed with epilepsy in 2016 and has been managing the condition ever since.politician has previously talked about how he experienced “violent episodes” in the run-up to the 2016 general election.
He has also described how he sometimes struggled while speaking in media interviews or in the Dáil, as an episode could affect his speech. Earlier this year, he told Newstalk his “worst nightmare” was that someone would question whether he was drunk if he suffered an episode during an interview or public appearance.
“The reason that I didn’t speak openly before 2025 about my epilepsy was I was terrified that people wouldn’t vote for me, and that my prospects of being promoted would hit the bin,” he said in the interview. O’Donovan said his condition does not “impede” him once managed. He said he had been “ashamed” of his epilepsy because he was “ignorant of what it is to have a neurological condition”.
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