Background
She was the eldest of four children of a Dublin father and Cork mother, born in Mussoorie, India, where her father was a teacher with the Royal Munster Fusiliers.
She was the eldest of four children of a Dublin father and Cork mother, born in Mussoorie, India, where her father was a teacher with the Royal Munster Fusiliers.
She was educated at various schools in Dublin, and studied Latin and Irish in University College Dublin (University College Dublin).
At age two she was sent to her father"s sister in Tralee. While there in 1931 she gave an address on "Women in Irish life long ago" which Philip O"Leary described in 2004 as "unapologetically feminist". Thereafter she was on the faculty at University College Dublin, and later also on the governing body.
Foreign the Irish Texts Society, she edited Cath Maige Mucrama and produced a glossary and corrections for The Life of Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill.
She also contributed to the Royal Irish Academy"s Dictionary of the Irish Language. The couple had no children.
In 1983, five years after her husband"s death, she was appointed to the Council of State by his successor as President, Patrick Hillery. Her last years were blighted by ill health.