"Thank you boss"
That is the caption new Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport Patrick O’Donovan wrote across the photo of himself and his party leader Simon Harris that he posted on his Instagram account on Thursday.
He added in his post that he is both "honoured and delighted" for this new Cabinet appointment from "my good friend" Simon Harris.
An experienced, energetic, and vocal politician, Patrick O’Donovan heads into this role on the back of a poll-topping 2024 General Election campaign.
First elected in 2011, Minister O’Donovan has held his seat in the Limerick County constituency at each election since and most recently in 2024, he become the first Fine Gael TD to be elected on the first count in that constituency.
He topped the poll with 11,563 votes just passing the 11,385 quota, and when speaking to reporters thanked his family and supporters for helping him to be voted back into what he described as "the most rural constituency in Ireland".
Born and raised in Newcastlewest in Limerick, Patrick O’Donovan, 47, obtained a BSc degree in Chemistry in UCC.
After working as an analytical chemist and industry consultant, he returned to college to undertake a Grad Diploma in Education at the Mary Immaculate College in Limerick.
He became a primary school teacher, but politics was always on his horizon.
His interest in political life began in college where he joined Young Fine Gael.
It was during those days that he first met Leo Varadkar, later recalling to the Limerick Leader that "we started at the same time".
But while they were both elected to the Young Fine Gael executive in 1998, it was Patrick O’Donovan who became the national chairman.
Six years later, both went on to become elected councillors on the same day in 2004.
In 2011, he successfully ran for election where the Irish Independent described him as "one of Enda Kenny's young band of TDs".
He has always acknowledged the support and help he got from fellow county neighbour and former Minister for Finance Michael Noonan.
He recalled: "From the day I went into the Dáil, Michael Noonan took me under his wing, more so being a west Limerick man than anything else. His advice is and will be very important."
His tenure at Dáil Éireann before his elevation to the ranks of senior ministry has been notable for his membership of a wide range of committees and responsibility for several portfolios.
In his first term as a TD in 2011, he served on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications and the Public Accounts Committee.
In 2014, he married his wife Eileen Keary and together they now have three children.
She too is steeped in Fine Gael politics, as the daughter of former Limerick City and County Mayor Stephen Keary.
In May 2016, then taoiseach Enda Kenny gave Minister O’Donovan his first elevation to ministerial level, and since then he has worked in a number of departments.
He began his ministerial career as Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport with special responsibility for Tourism and Sport.
A year later, then taoiseach Leo Varadkar appointed him Minister of State at the Department of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform in 2017 where he stayed until 2020.
After being successfully returned in that year’s election, he stayed at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, where his key responsibility was the Office of Public Works.
He made headlines when he became embroiled in a public row over the 'living crib' at Dublin’s Mansion House which has been an annual fixture there since 1995.
Unhappy with the decision of then Dublin Lord Mayor and Green Party councillor Caroline Conroy to remove the live animals from the crib, describing it as "bizarre", he pledged to save the crib.
By 8 December, the live crib was back and installed in St Stephen’s Green and party colleagues flocked to the new crib venue to show their support.
The matter of 'that' bike shed at the Dáil last year, will be a less happy episode from his tenure in the role.
While controversy raged over the €336,000 cost, Mr O’Donovan said that he had first learned about the figures involved when he read about it in the media.
He also stated that he had no role in the €1.4 million cost of a security hut at Leinster House.
While he acknowledged that he was the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW at the time, he told reporters: "I wasn’t responsible for it. I didn’t approve the money because that’s not the role of the Minister of State for the Office of Public Works. The accounting officer in the Office of Public Works is the chairman."
He survived the furore.
His path to ministerial success continued and as a Gaeilgeoir he was appointed Minister of State for the Gaeltacht in December 2022.
His first senior Cabinet role was as Minister for Further and Higher Education, succeeding then newly promoted taoiseach Simon Harris in April 2024.
In his personal life, Patrick O’Donovan had a serious health scare in 2023, when on 29 June he collapsed in the chamber of Dáil Éireann and was rushed to hospital after temporarily losing his sight and speech.
He later said: "I got a very big fright. I am very grateful to the Dublin Fire Brigade’s ambulance service and medical team in Beaumont hospital where I spent a bit of time...but I'm out the other side of it now."
He recovered well and resumed his role ten weeks later.
Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport
On Thursday 23 January 2025 came confirmation from now Tánaiste Simon Harris about his new role as the Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport.
Mr O’Donovan started his junior ministerial career with Sport so will understand this brief well, and as Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, will be familiar with that department too, although responsibility for the Gaeltacht has now transferred to the watch of fellow Gaeilgeoir Dara Callery at Social Protection.
The Limerick politican's new department, where he succeeds Catherine Martin, has had some more changes too.
It has gone from being the rather exhaustingly titled Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, which incorporated six briefs, to incorporating just five in Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport.
Tourism has moved to Minister Peter Burke’s Department of Enterprise, while Communications has devolved from former Minister Eamon Ryan’s department to Mr O’Donovan’s.
Reaction to Minister O’Donovan’s appointment
RTÉ News asked Arts and Media organisations for their reaction to the appointment of the new Minister.
All began by congratulating him.
Maura McGrath, chairperson of the Arts Council, which is the primary funder for many national arts organisations and projects said "we look forward to working together to develop funding for the arts so that it keeps pace with inflationary growth and can reduce deprivation levels in the artistic community".
RTÉ Director General, Kevin Bakhurst said: "We look forward to building a constructive working relationship with the Minister as we implement RTE's five-year strategy."
Co-Director and Executive Director of the Abbey Theatre Mark O’Brien said they "look forward to working with him as he advocates to Government on behalf of the wider arts and culture sector, and theatre specifically".
Mr O’Brien also said that it was a matter of urgency that that "appropriate funding is available to support and sustain Irish theatre at all levels as a vital and necessary art form".
What is in his in-tray?
Talking to observers about the rise of the poll-topping Limerick TD, it is fair to say that while he is acknowledged as a hardworking and smart politician with broad experience, his appointment to this role, particularly in the areas of Arts and Media, is seen as new territory for him.
The role covers a wide range of responsibilities, including big tech and fact checking, while the 2023 RTÉ controversy means the issues around media and regulation will be in sharp focus.
With so many social media companies' EU Headquarters based here, key organisations such as Coimisiún na Meán, as the media regulator will be an active part of his work.
An Coimisiún - which is an independent state agency that works in collaboration with his department - has an ever-expanding brief to manage the turbulent social media space.
The complex issues surrounding social media have been on the minister’s own radar for some time.
In 2017 he commented that abuse on social media is "the worst aspect of being a politician".
In an interview in the Irish Examiner on 8 January this year, speaking as the then Minister for Higher Education, he noted that in his view "European politicians are largely to blame for 'fake news' being permitted to be published online without consequence".
The Limerick TD said legislators in the EU have "thrown their hands in the air" and resigned themselves to not addressing misinformation and disinformation that has been published on online platforms.
He also spoke about the "threat posed by young people shunning conventional media" observing that it must be addressed before it is too late.
Minister O’Donovan said that "it is not an issue Ireland can address alone and must be addressed at an EU level".
In this new role though, he will have clout in this area now so it will be interesting to watch how he engages with the challenges.
RTÉ will be on his radar too.
In June 2023, he called for significant structural change at RTÉ, commenting that while "the organisation has to be kept afloat…this is not a sustainable model into the future and it has to change and RTÉ has to be prepared to change with it".
The minister’s work will be guided by the new Programme for Government and it states that it is "committed to a strong, independent media sector."
The programme states that the Government will respect "RTÉ’s independence" while ensuring that necessary reforms are carried out in tandem with funding to secure a sustainable future for public service media.
For the Arts community meanwhile, seeking support for the popular Basic Income for the Artists, which has been running on a pilot scheme since October 2022, is a priority.
Here the Programme for Government states that it will "assess the basic income for artists pilot to maximise its impact."
This will have been seen as a lowkey response and the assessment process will be watched closely by the arts community.
For the film and screen sector, the commitment in the Programme for Government to support the Section 481 film tax credit for film and unscripted productions is welcomed, with Screen Ireland’s most recent report confirming that two-thirds of production spend here since 2021 has availed of the tax relief.
What does the man himself have to say about his new role?
In a statement to RTÉ News, he said: "I am honoured and proud to be appointed" to the role.
He said his priority actions will include access to sport and that the Irish public has "access to factual and trusted information".
In line with the Programme for Government, the Minister confirmed that these priority actions include ensuring stable funding for RTÉ and other public service broadcasters, and ensuring accessible funding for local radio and print media.
His priorities also include working towards the passage of a Defamation Bill and "ensuring the redevelopment of our GPO".
His first public act as minister was a message of condolence on the death of the celebrated poet Michael Longley.
He is already up and running.
