Career
Originally working in fashion for Vogue magazine and then The Observer. She came to prominence as one of the first British journalists to report on the rise of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and became an increasingly prominent commentator on the affairs of the region. In 1977 Conor Cruise O"Brien was appointed editor-in-chief of the paper.
O"Brien was a writer and politician, who served as a government minister in the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament).
He was often criticized for his uncompromising opposition towards "physical force Irish republicanism", and his actions to that end during Liam Cosgrave"s tenure as Taoiseach were labelled as censorship by some. Shortly after starting as editor, O"Brien sent a memo to Holland:
Holland subsequently left The Observer and joined The Irish Times as their Northern Ireland correspondent.
In 1988, she witnessed the Ireland Republican Army Corporals killings. Her awards included the Prix Italia award for her television documentary on the Creggan in Derry (Creggan, 1980), and, in 1989, the Ewart-Biggs memorial prize for the promotion of peace and understanding in Ireland.
She wrote and campaigned for abortion rights in Ireland and admitted, in an article on the topic of abortion, that she had had one.
