with then Seanad colleague and professor of Oncology at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, John Crown, MacSharry introduced the Access to Cancer Treatment Bill to Seanad Eireann which sought to simplify the approval process to ensure early access for patients to avail of expensive breakthrough cancer drugs. The bill was defeated by one vote. MacSharry authored a Fianna Fail policy paper in February 2013 entitled, Actions Speak Louder than Words, which promoted the case for and approach to be taken for a reduction in loss of life through suicide by 30 percent. To progress proposals to increase funding for suicide prevention and mental health measures, he introduced the Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Fund Bill in 2014 to the Seanad which was defeated. Dáil Éireann (2016–present) In the 2016 general election, MacSharry was elected on his second attempt, topping the poll in the newly reformed Sligo–Leitrim constituency with 8,856 votes (14.2%), to take a seat in the constituency his father Ray had served in. In 2018, the Dáil was suspended for ten minutes because of an allegedly anti-semitic remark made by MacSharry. While discussing the reduction of hours in a Garda station in Donegal town, MacSharry alleged that the government was like Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and shouted "Goebbels" at the government's benches. Minister for Justice Charles Flanagan and Minister for Health Simon Harris called on MacSharry to withdraw the remark, with Harris calling the comment "anti-semitic" and "an attack on the Jewish Community", but MacSharry's Fianna Fáil colleague, Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail, did not call on MacSharry to withdraw the remark. In 2020, MacSharry was re-elected in the same constituency, albeit with a reduced share of 7,004 votes (11.5%), being elected on the final count over his Fianna Fáil running mate Eamon Scanlon. MacSharry caused controversy in 2020 when he accused public servants of "laziness" and said they were "using the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse to "lie on the couch and watch box sets". The Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants called on MacSharry to withdraw the remark, calling it "ill-informed and ill-considered" and requesting an apology from MacSharry, but MacSharry refused to, saying "Of course, such comments aren't popular, but it needs to be said." MacSharry criticised Fáilte Ireland and his Fianna Fáil colleague at the time Stephen Donnelly on the public health guidelines they had issued regarding the opening of pubs and restaurants