Irish whiskey
O'Reilly joined Powers in 1946, during a time when there were only four Irish distilleries left: Powers, Cork Distilleries Company, Jameson Irish Whiskey, and Williams of Tullamore. Since the First World War, the Irish whiskey industry was struggling to stay afloat in the small domestic market, as they had been unable to do normal business in the U.S. because of Prohibition in the United States (1920–33) and the Anglo-Irish Trade War.