Career
Irwin was born in Medford, Massachusetts. He was ordained a priest by Richard J. Cardinal Cushing in 1960. He was consecrated a bishop on September 17, 1996 and served as Regional Bishop of the North Region of the Archdiocese of Boston.
On October 20, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI accepted his request for retirement from office, submitted on the date of his 75th birthday as required by the Code of Canon Law.