[1] She has also been Ambassador of Ireland to the United Nations, the European Union, France, and Monaco, the first woman to hold each of these positions.

[5] She graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Arts degree (history and politics) at the age of 19, in 1972 [3] and from King's Inns, where she earned a diploma in legal studies.

She moved to Geneva, where she was first secretary of Ireland's Permanent Mission to the United Nations from 1976 to 1980, including a six-month assignment in Belgrade.

[3][5] Back in Ireland, she was Counsellor in the Anglo-Irish Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1987 to 1991, then Assistant Secretary General in Corporate Services from 1991 to 1995.

While there, she was named as chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1999 to 2000,[2][8] the fourth woman to earn the honour (Eleanor Roosevelt was the first).

[10] She arrived in Washington, D.C. in August,[3][4] and presented her credentials to President Barack Obama at a ceremony in the White House Oval Office on 17 September.

[1][3][11] Anderson retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs on 27 June 2017 and was succeeded as Ireland's US ambassador the following August by Daniel Mulhall.