Latest news with #ArtsMinister
BreakingNews.ie
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BreakingNews.ie
Patrick O'Donovan thought he might die after collapsing in Dáil
Minister Patrick O'Donovan has said he thought he might be dying during an epileptic episode in Leinster House two years ago. He said he was 'terrified' when he collapsed in an aggressive fit while speaking in the Dáil chamber in June 2023. Advertisement He said on Sunday that, at the time, he did not know whether he was going to live or die. Mr O'Donovan, who recently revealed to the Sunday Independent that he has a photosensitivity that manifests itself into epilepsy, elaborated on the experience on the Anton Savage Show on Newstalk. The Arts Minister said he was revealing his disability following criticism around his level of participation at cultural events. While speaking in the Dáil chamber, he said he started to feel the sensations in his body 'beginning to go' and he started stuttering 'really badly'. Advertisement While he has had a stutter on occasion since childhood, he added: 'But this was a really bad one. 'And the next thing, before I knew where I was, all of the power in my limbs was beginning to leave me.' The situation deteriorated by the second and he ended up lying down on one of the Government benches. 'I could hear everything but I couldn't see anything and I couldn't speak and I had no sensation anywhere.' Advertisement Asked if he thought there was a chance he was dying, he said: 'Yeah, I did. I thought this one was so big and was lasting so long, it was so violent and aggressive, that they couldn't get it under control.' Mr O'Donovan added: 'I've often jokingly said at home that I thought I was going to be a table quiz question: 'Who was the first TD to die in the Dáil chamber?'' Mr O'Donovan said he had lived with the condition for years without it being diagnosed, suffering a number of episodes. He said it felt like the 'bottom had fallen out' of his world when he was eventually diagnosed, but the confirmation also came with a sense of relief: 'I always knew there was something physically wrong with me, as did my wife because I could feel it.' Advertisement
ABC News
03-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
NT Museum and Art Gallery chair resigns amid new CBD gallery plan fallout
The chair of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) has resigned, amid the fallout of a decision to up-end plans to create a new Darwin CBD art gallery. MAGNT chair and former Labor chief minister Clare Martin has quit her position less than a year after her contract was renewed by the previous Territory Labor government. She was appointed to the role by the Labor government in 2018. Her departure comes after the NT's Country Liberal Party (CLP) government announced it would be pausing or scrapping plans to open a new Darwin CBD art gallery, despite the building being nearly constructed. The building in Darwin's State Square was slated to be a new government-run gallery to showcase artworks from MAGNT's collection — primarily pieces from the NT and Asia — which currently have nowhere to be displayed. Arts Minister Jinson Charls said in May that costs for the new building had blown out by $100 million, and the previous NT Labor government had not budgeted for ongoing operational costs. The government has called for expressions of interest (EOIs) for potential operators to bid on ways to "maximise the possibilities the site offers", and said the building will not necessarily be used as an art gallery now. The building is being purpose-built as a gallery, but there have been long-standing concerns over its expected operating costs, which the CLP has said will likely be around $8 million per year. Ms Martin has been contacted for comment to confirm why she resigned, but sources have told the ABC that her decision was directly related to the gallery upheaval. Mr Charls has also been contacted for comment over the MAGNT chair's resignation. NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro told ABC Radio Darwin on Tuesday that, regardless of who took over the new CBD building, the government wanted to see it as a "signature piece" for the city. "There might be some exciting proponents who have some great ideas on what to do with it, [or] it may very well still end up being an art gallery," she said. "It'll be very interesting to see what comes out of the [EOI] process, if anything at all. "It's a shemozzle … we're now trying to see if there's a better way to use it; if not, well … we can put a chain around the door and not open it, or we can open it and put art in it. "All of that needs to play out." Ms Finocchiaro said the new CBD gallery did not have a storage facility for the entirety of MAGNT's holding collection, which she said was currently falling into ruin in storage at the museum's flagship location at Bullocky Point. "It's in a shed, rusting to the ground," Ms Finocchiaro said. The ABC understands that MAGNT will be submitting an EOI for the building to still become a CBD art gallery.
