 In 1877 he transferred to the Queensland Legislative Council, and in 1885 resigned as he intended to settle in Europe.In Ireland O'Doherty was cordially welcomed, and was returned unopposed as Irish Parliamentary Party MP for North Meath to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in the November 1885 general election; but finding the climate did not suit him he did not seek re-election in 1886, and returned to Brisbane in that year.He attempted to take up his medical practice again but was not successful, and he died in poor circumstances on 15 July 1905.