As a Senator, he was first elected in 1989 to the 19th Seanad, on the Cultural and Educational Panel. He lost his seat at the 1993 Seanad elections and was unsuccessful again at the 1997 Seanad election. He was elected to the 23rd Seanad in 2007,[3] serving on the Industrial and Commercial Panel and as Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. O'Reilly was elected to the Labour Panel of the 25th Seanad in April 2016.[4]
He is the Fine Gael Seanad Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Political views
In 2017, Fine Gael announced that they were planning a bill to allow pubs to open on Good Friday, reversing a 90-year-old ban. O'Reilly went against his party's view and said that the tradition was "part of our national identity".[5]
References
^"Joe O'Reilly". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2008.