Taoiseach Enda Kenny has sent his best wishes to former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald who is ill in hospital.
Speaking to reporters in New York, Mr Kenny said: “I spoke to Garret a few weeks back in the Shelbourne when he received another doctorate and I’m aware from communications yesterday he is in hospital."
"I hope that the medical assistance being given to him now will help him come through these difficulties he’s having. I say a prayer for his health and wellbeing.”
Mr FitzGerald served two terms as taoiseach. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD in 1969 after previously serving in Seanad Éireann to which he was elected in the 1965.
He served as taoiseach from July 1981 to February 1982 and from December 1982 to June 1987. He negotiated the Anglo-Irish Agreement with former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1985.