Patrick O’Donovan on epilepsy, politics and hitting rock bottom in Ireland’s health system

The arts minister reflects on epilepsy, misdiagnosis, stigma and why revealing his condition became unavoidable in public life

After collapsing in the Dáil in June 2023, Patrick O’Donovan was admitted to Beaumont Hospital. His neurologist diagnosed him with deep frontal lobe epilepsy. File Picture: Sasko Lazrov/Photocall Ireland/Department of Education

As he lay in a Dublin hospital bed in the hopes of seeing a neurologist, a junior doctor walked into the hospital room of Fine Gael TD Patrick O’Donovan.

His epilepsy had been misdiagnosed several times at this point, with doctors telling him he was “working too hard” and was “tired”. He needed to “go home and get over it”.