| Honorific-Suffix: | TD |
| Office: | Teachta Dála |
| Term Start: | February 2020 |
| Constituency: | Carlow–Kilkenny |
| Office1: | Senator |
| Term Start1: | 27 April 2016 |
| Term End1: | 9 February 2020 |
| Constituency1: | Labour Panel |
| Birth Name: | Jennifer Murnane |
| Birth Date: | 24 May 1966[1] |
| Birth Place: | Waterford, Ireland |
| Nationality: | Irish |
| Party: | Fianna Fáil |
| Children: | 4 |
| Alma Mater: | Cork Institute of Technology |
Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (born 24 May 1966) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency since the 2020 general election. She previously served as a Senator for the Labour Panel from 2016 from 2020.[2] [3]
Murnane O'Connor first ran for the Dáil in 2011, when she polled 6% of the first preference vote in Carlow–Kilkenny for Fianna Fáil.[4]
She did not run in the 2015 by-election in the constituency, caused by the appointment of Phil Hogan to the European Commission, but was chosen to contest the 2016 general election as the Carlow-based candidate on a Fianna Fáil ticket that also featured sitting TDs John McGuinness and Bobby Aylward (who won the 2015 by-election). Murnane O'Connor polled 12% of the first preference vote but was not elected. Murnane O'Connor received 8,373 votes, which was the highest number of votes for a non-elected candidate at that election.
She was subsequently elected as a Senator for the Labour Panel in the 25th Seanad in April 2016, having narrowly missed out on a Dáil seat in the 2016 general election.[5] She was the Fianna Fáil Seanad Spokesperson on Housing, Planning and Local Government from 2016 to 2020.
At the general election in February 2020, she was elected as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency.[6] [7]
Murnane O'Connor was born in Waterford in 1966, but is a native of Graiguecullen, County Carlow. She is the daughter of former Carlow County Councillor Jimmy Murnane, who served on the local council for several years. She was co-opted to Carlow Urban District Council in 1999, following her father's retirement. She topped the polls for both for the Urban and County Council at the following elections.[8] [9] [10]
Prior to her election as a TD, she worked in Graham's, a shoe shop in Carlow. She married Pat O'Connor in 1985. They have two sons and two daughters.