Malcolm Byrne

Political career When first elected to Gorey Town Council on the first count in 1999, he was its youngest member at the age of 25. He topped the poll again at the 2004 local elections.

In January 2006, The Sun included Byrne's picture on the cover of its Irish edition beneath the headline "Bertie's FF Man in Gay Web Shame," Byrne later described how it was a journalist from The Gorey Echo had first approached him: "The first few questions were about roads. Then the journalist said, 'Are you aware you have a profile on this dating website?'" When he confirmed that the profile was his, Byrne experienced a sleepless night before The Gorey Echo outed him locally: "I was ringing around people I knew and my parents were ringing around people … my grandmother didn't know and a lot of my extended family and my friends didn't know". Gorey Echo group editor Tom Mooney defended publication by saying he believed Byrne's behaviour to be "unfitting of a public representative".

He contested the 2019 European Parliament election for Fianna Fail in the South constituency, having unexpectedly beaten Cork TD Billy Kelleher in the vote for the party's nomination. However, Kelleher was later added to the ticket. Fianna Fáil then divided the constituency geographically, asking people in counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow to vote for Byrne, and those in counties Cork, Kerry, Clare and Limerick to vote for Kelleher. Kelleher won 11.69% of the first preference votes (FPV) and was elected on the 17th count. Byrne won 9.62% of the FPV, was eliminated on the 16th count.

Byrne was elected as a TD at the 2019 Wexford by-election. Andrew Bolger was co-opted to Byrne's seat on Wexford County Council following his election to the Dáil. His maiden speech was about housing solutions and the need to address the challenges facing Generation Rent. In an interview he said he could envisage a United Ireland where the 12th of July and Saint Patrick's Day were public holidays and spoke about how Ireland needs to ensure Unionists feel at home in a new agreed state and that may mean addressing issues such as Ireland joining the Commonwealth.

Byrne lost his Dáil seat at the next general election, on 8 February 2020, following what he called "a dirty campaign".

On 31 March 2020, Byrne was elected to Seanad Éireann at the 2020 election. He was named as Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Higher Education, Innovation and Science by Taoiseach Micheál Martin in July 2020.

As a senator, Byrne has been a vocal critic of human rights abuses in China. In February 2021, he became co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, along with Senator Barry Ward of Fine Gael. Byrne is a member of the cross-party Oireachtas Friends of Israel in the Oireachtas.

At the 2024 general election, Byrne was elected to the Dáil. He was subsequently appointed Cathaoirleach of the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence.

On 4 June 2026, Byrne announced his resignation as Cathaoirleach of the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence, following his arrest on suspicion of drink driving in May 2026.

In May 2026, Byrne was arrested on suspicion of drink driving after failing a breath test at a Garda checkpoint in Dublin.