She has worked as a lecturer in Accountancy at the Dublin Institute of Technology and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

[8] She was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Social Welfare in the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition that was formed after that election.

She was a candidate for the deputy leadership of the party in 2002, obtaining 24% of the first preference vote,[citation needed] but was unsuccessful.

[10] Labour polled badly at the 2014 local and European elections; this led to the resignation of Eamon Gilmore as leader.

During her term as leader and Tánaiste, her contribution was key to preventing the sell-off of State assets, protecting core welfare payments and increasing the minimum wage twice.

Burton remained as Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection in an acting capacity during prolonged talks on government formation.

[16] On 6 May 2016, Enda Kenny announced in the Dáil that Frances Fitzgerald would be the new Tánaiste, while Burton's constituency colleague Leo Varadkar took her old job in the Department of Social Protection.

On 10 May 2016, she announced her resignation as Labour Party leader, which took effect on 20 May 2016, when her replacement Brendan Howlin was chosen unopposed.