James Reilly

He contested the Dublin Fingal by-election in 2019 and again for Fine Gael in the 2020 general election and lost both times. Shortly after his third defeat, Reilly announced his retirement from politics.

Kenny's Fine Gael-led minority government took office after the 2016 election with a programme which promised a randomly selected Citizens' Assembly to report on possible changes to the Eighth Amendment, which would be considered by an Oireachtas committee, to whose report the government would respond officially in debates in both houses of the Oireachtas. Leo Varadkar replaced Enda Kenny as Taoiseach on 14 June 2017 and promised to hold a referendum on abortion in 2018.

Reilly lost his seat at the 2016 general election. He retained his position as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs until talks on government formation had concluded and his successor, Katherine Zappone, was appointed. He was the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in the 25th Seanad.

At a meeting of Fine Gael ministers in November 2015, James Reilly reportedly 'faced down' then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny, demanding a referendum on Ireland's abortion laws. He reportedly told the Taoiseach repeatedly: "I said it, I believe it and I'll say it again." He took a swipe again at the Taoiseach when he told a group of young voters to "never stand back because others try to shut you down".

Reilly was moved to the position of Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle in July 2014. He retained responsibility for Public Health and anti-smoking policy.

Reilly instructed his Department to start collating an outpatient waiting list for the first time, which, when it was first published in March 2013 showed over 100,000 patients waiting over a year. Thousands of them were waiting over four years. By December 2013, this waiting list had been reduced by 95 percent. The number of patients waiting over 8 months for an inpatient or daycase procedure has now been reduced by 99%.

Reilly has called the tobacco industry “evil”, claimed that they “target our children” and declared “war” on them. Both his father and brother died from smoking related illnesses. He received cabinet approval to aim to make Ireland a tobacco free country – defined as a smoking rate below 5% - by 2025. Ireland became the second country in the world to commit to introducing plain tobacco packaging. He has taken a defiant attitude to threats of legal action from the tobacco industry. During the Irish Presidency of the European Union, Reilly prioritised the Tobacco Products Directive. He secured the agreement of the European Council within just six months. Health Commissioner Tonio Borg praised his ability in securing this agreement. When the Tobacco Directive's future became doubtful because of tobacco industry lobbying in the European Parliament, Reilly arranged for letters supporting the directive to be sent to MEPs from himself, the Taoiseach, 16 European Health ministers and the World Health Organisation. In an unusual move in Irish politics, Reilly accepted a Bill proposed by independent Senators which aims to ban smoking in cars where children are present.

He conceded for the first time on 17 January 2012 that budget cuts he was implementing would affect frontline health services.

In July 2012, Reilly was named on a debt defaulters' list as owing a debt of €1.9 million together with four others on foot of a judgment which had been registered in the High Court. The dispute was eventually settled with the nursing home at the centre of the dispute sold.

Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin tabled a motion of no confidence in Reilly on 3 September 2012 after more cuts in the health service. He says the search for savings would focus on tackling "inefficiencies and waste", such as excessive sick leave and overtime. The Labour junior minister Róisín Shortall addressed the Dáil during this motion and did not indicate her support for him or mention his name once, though she did not vote against the motion. Reilly won the vote of no confidence by 99 to 49. On 26 September 2012, Shortall resigned as Minister of State for Primary Care and her party whip, citing lack of support and the lack of an explanation from Reilly as to what criteria were used to select an extra 15 sites for primary care centres, including the placement of two such centres in Reilly's own constituency.

For his first official trip as Health Minister, Reilly embarked on an expedition to China. His second official trip was for a meeting on non-communicable diseases in New York City from 17–20 September 2011.

Reilly graduated with a medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1979 and is a qualified General Practitioner. Reilly was president of the Irish Medical Organisation prior to his election. He was appointed as party spokesperson on Health in 2007 and promoted to Deputy Leader in a reshuffle on 1 July 2010.

Just two weeks after the motion of no confidence, Reilly unilaterally cut Irish consultants salary. Compared to salaries from 2008, the cut represents over a 40% drop, the largest cut in the public sector. Controversially, this salary cut applied to not only new consultant contracts but also to existing consultants who moved to take up a similar position in a different hospital. Since this pay cut there has been difficulty in recruiting consultants with several posts receiving no applicants. While under questions from the Oireachtas, Minister Reilly downplayed the recruitment problems and stated "there is not the great crisis chaos that the Irish Hospital Consultants Association would like to paint". Two days following this the Minister stated "it was never my intention that somebody who has spent 10 years working as a cardiologist...would be expected to return here and commence work at the starting point on the salary scale, that, clearly, does not make sense".

James Reilly (born 16 August 1955) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician, businessman and medical doctor. Between the February 2016 general election and the 6 May 2016 formation of a new government, he was the Acting Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, having held that ministry since July 2014 in the previous government, and was also deputy leader of Fine Gael from 2010 to 2017. He was the Minister for Health from March 2011 to July 2014. Reilly was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North constituency since the 2007 general election until he lost his seat in the 2016 general election. Reilly was a member of Seanad Éireann from May 2016 to March 2020, after being nominated by then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. Reilly subsequently announced his retirement from politics after he lost his bid for election for his old seat at the 2020 general election.