TD Watch: Willie Penrose, Labour Lifer

Labour's spokesperson on Social and Family Affairs, Willie Penrose, says his party will "significantly increase the rates of social welfare payments", if they are in Government after the next election. In his policy document, to be published in the next fortnight, he also proposes a new child benefit supplement and the abolition of means testing as part of "10 steps to tackling poverty". He says that Labour in government would reverse the "savage 16" cutbacks made in the 2003 budget.

Penrose, who is also Chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social and Family Affairs, says that, despite all the talk about the prosperity of our country, we still have a long way to go to ensure that everyone benefits from economic success: "22 per cent of the population live in relative poverty, compared with an EU average of 15 per cent. We've up to 90,000 children living in consistent poverty, and a quarter of a million people living in poverty." He also claims that the problem is as bad in rural areas as it is in the major cities.

Penrose favours the Berlin economic model, which emphasises social protection. "For the past decade or so we have been moving closer to the Boston model in this country, and are only spending 16 per cent of GDP on social protection, so it's no wonder there are so many living in poverty." This clashes, however, with his party's potential coalition partners, Fine Gael, who have in the past claimed to support the Boston model.

He rejects claims made by the some members of the Government that his party has been slow in producing policies: "The very day that Minister Cowen was blowing his trumpet about us not having policies, here we were launching our policy document on childcare. When we hear the Government roaring and shouting about us not having policies, we know that we're hurting them and we know we are winning the arguments. We have always been a policy-driven party."

Since being elected for Labour in the so-called "Spring tide" of 1992, Penrose has continued to be a poll-topper for Labour. Before his election, Labour had not had a seat in Westmeath since 1927. His popularity throughout his constituency has been strong since then. In the 1999 local elections, he won more than 42 per cent of the votes in Mullingar West. In 2002 he topped the poll and contributed to Mary O'Rourke's exit from the Dáil.

He started his career in politics when, at just 13, he became the branch secretary in his home town of Ballynacarrigy. Back then, the branch had just seven members: now it has 123. Having succeeded in bringing the Labour party to Westmeath, he is now busy wooing Longford.

With the border of his constituency set to change to include Longford, and cut off some of Westmeath, he will have to win new voters. While he holds onto his home town of Ballynacarrigy, he will lose a considerable vote when the North of the county is sliced off. He says: "I abhor this idea of cutting off bits of the county. Westmeath is a geographical unit and I will continue to represent the whole county."

At the same time, he will have to win votes from Longford, where there has never before been a Labour TD. He has been canvassing in Longford since the summer, and is already running clinics there. He says in the past few weeks he has received membership applications from people from Longford wanting to join the party.

Penrose is chairman of the parliamentary Labour party. He contested the party's deputy leadership in October 2002, but lost out by 90 votes to Liz McManus. He says the contest was "a great experience," and although he was disappointed, he says "in politics you just have to get on with the show."