Career
A national school teacher by profession, she trained at Street Patrick"s College, Dublin. lieutenant was one of two by-elections in County Cork on the same day, both of which Fianna Fáil lost. The double defeat in Jack Lynch"s native county was a factor in the lead up to Lynch"s resignation on 5 December 1979 as leader of Fianna Fáil.
Her father, Richard Barry was a sitting Territorial Decoration in the same constituency at the time of the by-election.
Barry was 22 years old at the time and one of the youngest ever TDs elected to the Dáil. She was re-elected at each successive election until she retired from politics at the 1987 general election, after 8 years in the Dáil.
She was then almost 30 years old.