Penrose to rejoin Labour after 2 years as Independent

Former junior minister Willie Penrose has applied to rejoin the Labour Parliamentary Party, 23 months after he resigned the whip over the closure of Mullingar barracks.

News of the Longford- Meath TD’s decision came as Paula Desmond, one of the party’s longest-serving councillors on Cork County Council, announced that she is to resign her seat.

Ms Desmond, daughter of ex-MEP and health minister Eileen, who died in 2005, said she would not contest the next local elections.