Background
Penrose was born in Ballynacargy, County Westmeath, and educated at Saint Mary"s Columbia Broadcasting System, Mullingar. Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar. Multyfarnham Agricultural College.
University College Dublin (University College Dublin), and the King"s Inns.
Education
At University College Dublin, 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.
Career
He has been a Teachta Dála (Territorial Decoration) for the Longford–Westmeath constituency since May 2007. He was re-elected in the Irish general election, 2016. He was Minister of State for Housing and Planning from March to November 2011, when he resigned his position and also the Labour Party whip over the closure of an army barracks.
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 southern
In 1984, he 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 Territorial Decoration for the Westmeath constituency.
In 2002, Penrose was a candidate for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party.
On 10 March 2011, he was appointed as Minister of State for Housing and Planning. On 15 November 2011, he announced his resignation as Minister of State due to his opposition to the Government"s decision to close Columb Barracks in Mullingar. Penrose said: "I understand and appreciate that significant efforts were made by my Labour colleagues in Government, who fully understood the depths of my feelings in this regard, to resolve this matter, but to no avail." He also resigned the Labour parliamentary party whip.
He rejoined the parliamentary Labour Party in October 2013.