Willie Penrose TD |
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Penrose pictured in 2005
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Chairperson of the Labour Parliamentary Party | |
Assumed office 29 February 2016 |
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Leader |
Joan Burton Brendan Howlin |
Preceded by | Jack Wall |
Minister of State for Housing and Planning | |
In office 9 March 2011 – 15 November 2011 |
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Taoiseach | Enda Kenny |
Preceded by | New office |
Succeeded by | Jan O'Sullivan |
Teachta Dála | |
Assumed office May 2007 |
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Constituency | Longford–Westmeath |
In office November 1992 – May 2007 |
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Constituency | Westmeath |
Personal details | |
Born |
Ballynacargy, Westmeath, Ireland |
1 August 1956
Nationality | Irish |
Political party |
Labour Party (1969–2011), (2013–) |
Other political affiliations |
Independent (2011–13) |
Spouse(s) | Anne Fitzsimons |
Children | 3 |
Alma mater |
University College Dublin, King's Inns |
Willie Penrose (born 18 August 1956) is an Irish Labour Party politician. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Longford–Westmeath constituency since May 2007, having previously served as a TD for the Westmeath constituency from 1992-2007. Minister of State for Housing and Planning from March to November 2011, he resigned his position and also the Labour Party whip over the closure of an army barracks.
Penrose was born in Ballynacargy, County Westmeath, and educated at St. Mary's CBS, Mullingar; Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar; Multyfarnham Agricultural College; University College Dublin (UCD), and the King's Inns. At UCD, he studied Agricultural Science, graduating in 1979 with a bachelor's degree and after graduation, with a colleague, formed an agricultural consultancy firm in Mullingar. In 1986, Penrose took up the position of advisor to the Minister of State at the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Tourism, Michael Moynihan, resigning from the agricultural consultancy to do so.
In 1984, Penrose was co-opted on to Westmeath County Council, and a year later, he ran in the local elections, winning his seat in the Mullingar Lough Owel constituency by a margin of just six votes. In the 1991 local elections, he topped the poll in the Mullingar Rural Area.
He qualified as a barrister in 1990 before entering into national politics. At the 1992 general election he was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a TD for the Westmeath constituency. On that occasion the Labour Party won a record 33 Dáil seats, a feat that was surpassed at the 2011 general election.