Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen is seriously ill in hospital, according to sources.

It's understood he was hospitalised in Dublin on Thursday night, July 4 with a suspected bleed on the brain.

The Clara man has suffered some ill health in recent months and was previously hospitalised for a number of days in late April of this year.

At that time, Mr Cowen was attending an Oireachtas golf society event at Lahinch when he became unwell and was brought to hospital by ambulance.

Cowen became the youngest TD in Dáil Éireann in the 1984 Laois-Offaly by-election when he was elected at the age of 24 into the seat vacated following the death of his own father, Bernard.

He spent the next 27 years in the Dáil, serving as Minister for Labour, Defence, Foreign Affairs, Transport, Energy, Health and Finance.

He was made the leader of Fianna Fail shortly after the resignation of Bertie Ahern in April 2008, and was later ratified in a Dáil vote as the country's 12th Taoiseach, serving in that role from 2008 to 2011.

His brother Barry was elected in his place in 2011 and remains a senior member of the Fianna Fáil party.