In January 2018, Dooley voiced his support for repealing the Eighth Amendment.
In October 2019, Dooley was involved in a voting controversy in the Dáil when he was absent from the chamber during voting but a vote was recorded in his seat six times.[5] An Oireachtas report into the incident revealed that fellow Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins voted on behalf of Dooley on each occasion, as well as casting votes at other seats.[6] Video footage showed Dooley talking to Collins prior to leaving the chamber, during which Dooley pointed to his seat and Collins nodded.[5] Dooley claimed in the Oireachtas report that he had not asked Collins to vote on his behalf during this conversation. When questioned, Dooley accepted that he had made no effort to correct the record prior to being contacted by a journalist about the incident.[6]
In a rare occurrence for an opposition TD, an amendment Dooley introduced was accepted to road traffic legislation, for significant penalties for the criminal offence of leaving the scene of a serious or fatal crash.[3]
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