Joe Carey was first elected to Clare County Council in 1999 at the age of 23. Five years later, he trebled his vote and retained his seat in the 2004 Local elections with the highest number of first preferences ever secured by a Clare local election candidate.
In 2007, he won a second seat for Fine Gael in the Clare constituency for the first time in 20 years when he was elected to Dáil Éireann at the age of 31. His father Donal, who served as Fine Gael TD for Clare from 1982 to 2002 and Minister of State from 1995 to 1997, was the only other candidate to win a second seat for the party in Clare.
Appointed as Deputy Spokesperson on Justice with special responsibility for Juvenile Justice, he worked with others to see off the heave on Enda Kenny’s leadership of Fine Gael.
He was re-elected to the Dáil in 2011 for a second term and appointed Assistant Government Chief Whip, having served as Fine Gael Deputy Whip in the previous Dáil. He served as a member of the Committee on Procedures and Privileges and was appointed Chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Administration.
Re-elected for his third Dáil term in 2016, he was appointed to the British and Irish Parliamentary Assembly and served as Chairman of the Committee on Sovereign Matters. He served as a member of the Oireachtas Commission and was subsequently elected chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development.
In February 2020, he was the only sitting Clare TD to be re-elected to the Dáil thereby securing a fourth successive term. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, he established the Shannon Airport Oireachtas Group and became its Chairperson. He was appointed temporary Chair of Dáil Éireann by the Ceann Comhairle, he was appointed as a member of the Oireachtas Commission for a second time and was later elected Chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications.