Martin Kenny (born 1 October 1971) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a TD for the SligoâÂÂLeitrim constituency since the 2016 general election.
Prior to entering politics, Kenny worked in horticulture, growing mushrooms and providing advice to other farmers. He later moved into community work.
Kenny became a member of Leitrim County Council in 2001, when he was co-opted to replace Liam McGirl, the son of former Sinn Féin TD John Joe McGirl. He previously served on Sinn Féin's ard comhairle. Kenny sought the nomination to be Sinn Féin's candidate in the 2014 European Parliament election in Ireland in the North-West constituency, but Matt Carthy was selected.
He was Sinn Féin's candidate in the 2014 RoscommonâÂÂSouth Leitrim by-election, in which he received 5,906 votes (17.7%) and was eliminated on the fifth count. He ran in the new SligoâÂÂLeitrim constituency in the 2016 general election and was elected, with 6,356 votes (10.2%).
In May 2016, Kenny alleged a number of serious instances of misconduct within the Garda SÃÂochána. The main allegations included that gardaàwere engaging informants who were active criminals, outside the Garda Covert Human Intelligence Sources programme. He also mentioned a number of instances including "robberies allegedly carried out by informants under the direction of gardaÃÂ", cases of entrapment made at the behest of Garda handlers, and an instance where "senior gardaàdid not inform other members of the force of plans by a criminal gang to carry out attacks at the homes of gardaÃÂ".
He also stated that two Gardaàhad brought this to the attention of both Martin Callinan (former Commissioner of the Garda SÃÂochána) and the former Minister of Justice, Alan Shatter, but their concerns were ignored.
Kenny was re-elected in 2020, topping the poll with 15,035 votes (24.8%) and being elected on the first count.
At the 2024 general election, Kenny was re-elected to the Dáil.
In October 2019, Kenny said he had received death threats after he spoke out in Dáil ÃÂireann against far-right elements in Irish society using anti-immigrant rhetoric. Kenny's remarks were spurred by the aftermath of the 2019 Grays incident, and recent protests against the building of a direct provision centre in his own constituency in County Leitrim as well other protests in Ireland against the construction of direct provision centres. On 28 October 2019, Kenny's car was set ablaze outside his family home. In an interview with Ocean FM he described the arson attack as "traumatic" and feared that he was facing the same fate as Kevin Lunney.
In October 2021, a threat of gun violence was made to Kenny's office. In October 2022, a man was charged with causing criminal damage to the gates of Kenny's home.
Kenny is married to Helen, and the couple have four adult children.