A senior Labour Party TD was today taken to hospital after he fell ill in the Dáil during a vote on the Budget’s education cuts.
Willie Penrose, who represents the Longford/Westmeath constituency, is undergoing tests and may be allowed to return to Leinster House later.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Mr Penrose was in the Dail chamber when he suddenly began feeling unwell. An ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital for a check-out.”
Mr Penrose (52) sat on an usher’s chair outside the Dáil chamber until an ambulance accompanied by a fire engine entered the main car park of Leinster House.
The spokesman said Mr Penrose was later discharged from hospital after routine medical tests and was well enough to return home.
The TD, who was elected to the Dáil on the ‘Spring tide’ in 1992, is the party’s spokesman on social and family affairs. He ran for the deputy leadership of the party in 2002 but was narrowly defeated by Liz McManus.