O'Beirne was a regular contributor on CNN's Saturday night political round-table program, Capital Gang, along with Al Hunt, Mark Shields, Robert Novak, and Margaret Carlson.
[1] O'Beirne's father was Matthew (Matty) Walsh, longtime owner of famed Manhattan saloon Jimmy Ryan's where dozens of jazz legends played, including Sidney Bechet, Ben Webster, and Coleman Hawkins.
[1] While at Good Counsel College, O'Beirne took a leave of absence to work on the successful 1970 U.S. Senate campaign of Conservative Party of New York State member James Buckley.
In 1976, she graduated from St. John's University School of Law in Queens, and in the same year married James O'Beirne, an infantry officer in the United States Army who served as White House liaison to The Pentagon.
In 1986, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where O'Beirne served as deputy assistant secretary for legislation at the United States Department of Health and Human Services until 1988.