She stood unsuccessfully for the Dáil at the February 1982 general election but was subsequently re-elected to the Seanad.

O'Rourke and her brother, Brian Lenihan, became the first siblings in Irish history to serve in the same cabinet.

O'Rourke contested the subsequent leadership election along with Michael Woods and Albert Reynolds.

Reynolds defeated the other two contenders and O'Rourke was subsequently dropped from her ministerial position but was appointed to a junior ministry as Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Commerce with responsibility for Trade and Marketing.

In January 1993, she was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment with responsibility for Labour Affairs, serving until the fall of the Reynolds government in December 1994.

This followed a vote management strategy from Fianna Fáil head office which restricted her from campaigning in her traditional areas around Kilbeggan, in an attempt to win 2 of the 3 seats in Westmeath.

In November 2008, during a march against the re-introduction of college fees, students from the Athlone Institute of Technology laid a funeral wreath at the door of O'Rourke's constituency office.

She said there was a general air of "crossness" within the Fianna Fáil party over their standing in the polls, but nobody was harbouring leadership ambitions to challenge Brian Cowen.

She pointed to the common approach of the two parties to Northern Ireland, Europe and the current financial crisis.

In an address to the 1916–1921 Club in Dublin Castle, she said that most voters no longer defined themselves in terms of Civil War politics.

[8] O'Rourke criticised former Taoiseach Brian Cowen, saying that he should have resigned after his infamous "congested" radio interview.

She was a contestant on RTÉ's reality series Celebrity Bainisteoir, as well as other shows such as Sex & Sensibility.