Willie Penrose

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Willie Penrose (born August 1956) is an Irish Labour Party politician. He is currently the Labour Party Spokesperson for Social & Family Affairs.

Willie Penrose was born in Ballynacargy, County Westmeath and educated at St. Mary's C.B.S. Mullingar, Multyfarnham Agricultural College, University College Dublin and the King's Inns. He qualified as a barrister before entering into politics. Penrose first became involved in local politics when he was elected to Westmeath County Council in 1991. In the 1992 General Election he was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a TD for Westmeath. On that occasion the Labour Party won a record 33 Dáil seats, a feat that has never been achieved since by the Party. He is currently the spokesperson for Social & Family Affairs.

In 2002, Penrose was a candidate for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party. Although he was part of a joint ticket with Pat Rabbitte, who won the leadership comfortably, he was narrowly defeated for the deputy leadership by Liz McManus, polling 1,636 votes to McManus' 1,728.

This page incorporates information from the Oireachtas Members Database