She is the daughter of the journalist, the late Deasún Breatnach and Lucy Bhreatnach member of Amnesty International and Irish Council of Civil Liberties.
She worked for the Sinn Féin newspaper An Phoblacht in 1982, then on the International Department in the party's Foreign Affairs Bureau.
[3] Bhreatnach was part of the Sinn Féin delegation in talks with the British and Irish governments, political parties, business, trade union and civic society representatives.
[1] In 2003, she organised a Sinn Féin conference, "Engine for Change — Women and Equality"[6] Bhreatnach then worked as a freelance journalist writing for the Irish language Lá newspaper.
Many lost their jobs during the recession and courses were organised to aid the workers for new positions in the changing economic market.