‘Feeling feisty’: Limerick minister hopes he’s not defined by illness
Minister Patrick O’Donovan said Mary McAleese will be a ‘hard act to follow’ after stepping down from GAA Integration Committee
“THERE’S people with a lot worse health problems than I have,” said Minister for Sport Patrick O’Donovan on the national airwaves this Thursday.
The minister for culture, communications and sport was a guest on Today with David McCullagh on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss the fallout from former President of Ireland Mary McAleese stepping down as the chairperson of the GAA’s Integration Committee, which oversees the amalgamation of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association.
At the end of the extensive interview, Mr McCullagh said that Mr O’Donovan has spoken before about living with epilepsy.
“Listeners will be aware you suffered a serious health event in Brussels in July of this year,” said Mr McCullagh.
Mr O’Donovan fell ill in Belgium and spent a number of days in hospital before being flown home to recover with his family. He previously collapsed in the Dáil chamber in 2023, while answering questions
“How are you feeling now?” asked Mr McCullagh.
“I think from the last few minutes, you have probably gained that I'm not too bad,” replied the 49-year-old Limerick minister.
Mr McCullagh said he didn’t like to pry “but obviously people listeners will be aware of your health issues - you're feeling okay?”
“You're obviously feeling feisty enough this morning anyway but it has been a difficult time for you - you've turned a corner, obviously,” asked Mr McCullagh.
Mr O’Donovan, in reply, said: “Well, for a fellow who doesn't like to pry, you're doing a good job of it. Look, it has been a difficult time but there's worse out there than me. There's people with a lot worse health problems than I have and I hope I'm not defined by this. I have a difficult job to do.
“There's a lot of people with disabilities and neurological conditions working in challenging environments. I hope that people would be able to look beyond the disability and the condition that I have and see that I am able to carry out a job on behalf of the people of Ireland in the governmental department that I'm very fortunate to head up in culture, communications and sport,” said Mr O’Donovan.
Earlier in the interview, the Newcastle West man agreed with the RTÉ journalist that Mary McAleese would be a hard act to follow as chair of the GAA Integration Committee but “there's a huge amount of work done”.
When asked about who the new chair of the committee would be, Mr O’Donovan said: “It wouldn't be appropriate for me as a minister with regard to the independence of a governing body of sport to be throwing around names like snuff at a wake.”
The minister said he thinks a huge amount of good will come out of yesterday’s developments because “all of a sudden now there's people talking about integration who never even heard of it”.
Mr O’Donovan said he asked at the meeting on Wednesday if the integration of GAA, LGFA, and the Camogie Association will be integrated in a timely manner.
“I got an emphatic, yes,” he said.
The minister said he will be asking the GAA, the LGFA, and the Camogie Association, through Sport Ireland, to provide them with a quarterly update as to how things are going so that they can relay this information to the Oireachtas if it's required.