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 Roscommon–South Leitrim by-election, in which he received 5,906 votes (17.7%) and was eliminated on the fifth count. He ran in the new
Sligo–Leitrim 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 Síochána. The main allegations included that gardaí were 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 gardaí", cases of
entrapment made at the behest of Garda handlers, and an instance where "senior gardaí did not inform other members of the force of plans by a criminal gang to carry out attacks at the homes of gardaí". He also stated that two Gardaí had brought this to the attention of both
Martin Callinan (former
Commissioner of the Garda Síochána) 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.
Harassment and attacks In October 2019, Kenny said he had received death threats after he spoke out in
Dáil Éireann 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. ==Personal life==