She is a former member of Seanad Eireann (2011-2016). She worked for many years with BBC Current Affairs as a producer/director in Manchester and London and with Granada TV's World in Action. Her programme Money for Nothing resulted in the Beef Tribunal and with her arrest and trial for not revealing her sources to that Tribunal. She also made the programme Sins of the Fathers, the first to reveal abuse of children by Catholic priests. Dublin born, she holds a BSc(Dairy&Food) from UCC and a diploma in marketing. She has written a book The Candidate, a contemporaneous account of her 2009 European election campaign.​​