Born in Cork, the daughter of James Goulding and Ellen Foyle, Margaret joined Inghinidhe na hÉireann, which was founded in 1900, taking an active role in the women's movement.

[2][3] Arrested in the aftermath of Easter Rising she was released in the amnesty of June 1917 and played a prominent role in the reorganisation of Sinn Féin.

She was an active member of the Women Prisoners' Defence League, founded by Maud Gonne and Charlotte Despard in 1922.

[citation needed] In 1929, she served as a member of Comhairle na Poblachta which unsuccessfully attempted to resolve the differences between Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army.

Three years later in 1937 she succeeded Cathal Ó Murchadha who was a former TD of the second Dáil Éireann as President of Sinn Féin,[4] at an ardfheis attended by only forty delegates, making her the first Irishwoman to lead a political party.