[7] During her trips to Ireland, Skinnider came under the influence of Constance Markievicz and became active in smuggling detonators and bomb-making equipment into Dublin (in her hat) in preparation for the 1916 Easter Rising.

[11] Operating variously as a scout, message runner (often dressed as a boy[12]) and sniper, Skinnider took part in action against the British Army at the Garrison at the College of Surgeons and St. Stephen's Green under the Command of General Michael Mallin and Markievicz.

She was seriously wounded when she was shot three times attempting to burn down houses on Harcourt Street to try to cut off the retreat of British soldiers who had planted a machine-gun post on the roof of the University Church.

[14] Nora Connolly O'Brien describes Skinnider's leading role in this action: When they were going out to attack the nest of snipers she was in charge of the squad.

William Partridge, a very famous man in the working class movement, was there and he and other members of the squad accepted that she was in charge In her autobiography, Doing my bit for Ireland Skinnider herself vividly describes her role as a sniper at St. Stephen's Green in the Easter Rising: It was dark there, full of smoke and the din of firing, but it was good to be in action.

Lying in the street dying, she was carried by fellow rebels to the College of Surgeons, where she was kept until the order to surrender came, after which she was transferred to St Vincent's Hospital on the other side of the Green.

William Partridge, the man who had saved her life, mistakenly thought she had died of her wounds after he left her, and had been saying prayers for her every night in prison.

[19] After a number of weeks laid up in hospital, she managed to escape her guards before obtained a travel permit from Dublin Castle which enabled her to return to Scotland.

[21] Following the death of Harry Boland she later became the Paymaster General of the Irish Republican Army until she was arrested on Saint Stephen's Day 1922 and held at North Dublin Union on charges of processing a revolver and ammunition.

[22][23] After her release from prison, she worked as a teacher at Kings Inn Street Sisters of Charity Primary School in Dublin until her retirement in 1961.

[24] In 1960, she was made chairperson of the Women's Advisory Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)[25] and from 1961 till 1963 she served on its executive council.

[27] Skinnider was amongst a number of lesbian women who participated in Easter 1916, as she would have fought alongside Kathleen Lynn, Madeleine ffrench-Mullen, Julia Grenan and Elizabeth O'Farrell.