She was the only child of the nationalist and professor Liam Ó Briain and Helen O'Brien (née Lawlor) of Dublin,Ireland a suffragette.
In this post, she was responsible for the promotion of the Irish language, and the weekly cinema newsreel Amharc Éireann (Landscapes of Ireland).
Her article "A social sort of column" received critical acclaim for drawing attention to poverty and oppression in Irish society.
[1] She was part of the first cohort of women journalists at The Irish Times (which included Maeve Binchy, Nell McCafferty and Elgy Gillespie) to write not about cookery and fashion but on social affairs and politics.
[1] Ní Bhriain died at Baggot Street Hospital on 1 January 1986, and donated her body to medical research.