Tánaiste confirms he made ‘routine’ call to Patrick O’Donovan on day he fell ill
Simon Harris rejected a suggestion he had asked the Culture Minister to consider his position in the phone call.
Fine Gael leader Simon Harris has confirmed he spoke to Patrick O’Donovan on the phone shortly before the Culture Minister fell ill and was rushed to hospital.
Tánaiste Mr Harris insisted the call was “routine” and made clear he had not asked his party colleague to stand down as a minister.
Speculation has been rife in Leinster House over the events that immediately preceded Mr O’Donovan taking ill as he hosted a meeting with EU telecommunications ministers in Limerick earlier this month.
The minister, who has spoken openly about being diagnosed with epilepsy, was treated in University Hospital Limerick.
Shortly before becoming unwell in Limerick, Mr O’Donovan criticised anonymous briefings from Government and party colleagues questioning whether his ill health would result in him losing his Cabinet position. He had described those remarks as “hurtful” and the “ultimate betrayal”.
The events played out as the minister was also facing scrutiny for his handling of a 20 million euro cut to RTÉ’s state funding that was announced in the budget.
In a statement in the days after the incident in Limerick, Mr Harris offered support to Mr O’Donovan and condemned the anonymous briefings against the minister as “hurtful” and warned they would not be tolerated within Fine Gael.
The Tánaiste was off on a two-week period of paternity leave at the time.
Having returned to work this week, Mr Harris faced questions on the issues around Mr O’Donovan as he spoke to reporters outside Government Buildings ahead of a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
He confirmed he had called Mr O’Donovan prior to him falling unwell at the EU conference.
“Yes, I did speak to him on Tuesday during that conference,” he said.
“Conversations that I have with my ministers are private. The way I’ve seen them characterised is inaccurate. Patrick is doing well. I look forward to welcoming Patrick back to work. It was really good to be with him and with his family last night.”
Pressed on whether he had asked the minister to consider his position on the call, Mr Harris replied “absolutely not”, describing the suggestion as “bizarre” and “so far from reality”.
He added: “Patrick O’Donovan is somebody I look forward to welcoming back to work.
“Patrick O’Donovan is somebody who I entered Dáil Éireann on the first day (after they were elected for the first time in 2011). He’s somebody that I’ve appointed on two occasions to Cabinet. He’s somebody doing a demanding and important job.
“But the priority right now for everybody, most particularly for Patrick and his family, is him recovering and getting back to work as soon as possible in a way that works for him.
“I have frequent conversations. I don’t generally, by the way, provide a call log. I have frequent conversations with all of my ministers. It’d be a bit bizarre if I didn’t. I talk to lots of colleagues on a daily basis, on a recurring basis, and those conversations, by their very nature, are private. But those conversations are certainly not as they are characterised.”
Mr Harris rejected suggestions he had been “silent” on the issue since his initial statement in the days after the minister became unwell.
“I think it is bizarre when a political leader is on paternity leave and people are saying the leader has been silent,” he said.
“I was on paternity leave. Quite frankly, I had better things to do last week than answer people’s queries. I was with my newborn baby. I make absolutely no apology for taking paternity leave, none whatsoever.”