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Irene went to boarding school at Santa Maria College, in
Attadale Western Australia where she developed her two great
loves: serving God and educating young people.
By the age of 15 she had decided that she wanted to be a nun. She joined the Sisters of St Joseph in 1956 and spent 30 years teaching in country areas of Western Australia Irene felt that the less privileged children in outback Australia deserved the same resources and attention as the privileged children in the city. To Irene, education was not a privilege, it was a right to all children, and all children deserved the same education.
Why did she pursue a life of Justice? Irene pursued a life of justice to make a difference in the lives of many less fortunate children in Australia and Peru, and for many years to come. Irene saw it as her duty, her task from God to grant the children of Australia a better education. Thanks to Irene, many country children were provided with better resources and a much more well rounded education. Some children who had no chance of any education were given the chance to learn thanks to Irene. Her determination and strong sense of moral justice lead to her unrelenting nature for the justice in education. Irene was also felt it was an injustice to not only impoverish children, but to deny them of learning about God and experiencing a religious nourishment. Even though Irene knew she was in danger she did not abandon the people of Huasahuasi, she remained loyal to the people and continued to lead them in communion services and provide leadership for them. They trained extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist to help built the people of the area's religious community and life. Irene pursued a life of religious justice to help develop people's relationships with God, or introduce them to God, so they could live a nourished life. 
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After 30 years of teaching in Australian schools Irene made
her decision that she wanted to serve the poor. She arrived in Peru in 1987 for
missionary work. Irene's first assignment was in El Pacifico, a low income
suburb in San Juan de Mira Flores, Lima and Santa de Perola in Distrito de San
Martín de Porres.
On 26 June 1989, Irene left to serve in Huasahuasi, in the Andes Mountains. Irene, with her companion, Sister Dorothy Stevenson, were asked to supervise the distribution of emergency goods by Caritas Peru. Irene continued her ministry of providing library facilities to poor children, who had no chance of obtaining books to aide in their school homework. She also trained extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, as well as visiting the parishioners in outlying districts. On 17 December 1989, the priests of Huasahuasi were warned that they were in danger from Sendero Luminoso (a communist rebel group also known as the Shining Path) , so they and the two sisters left the village for Lima. Irene, however, felt that the church could not abandon the villagers at this time and returned on 14 January 1990. For 12 months Huasahuasi was without a resident priest. During this time Irene and Dorothy Stevenson served the people, led the communion services and provided leadership for the people of the area. For political reasons Communist rebels, the Shining Path, did not welcome missionaries and despite recognising the danger Irene and her fellow sisters continued to work with and for the village people
Irene was accused of dispensing "American food" (Caritas provisions) and spreading “American ideas” (by providing school books). When local people insisted that Irene was Australian, not American, the guerrillas dismissed this as irrelevant. During the night, a group of young people from the village gathered around Irene in the darkness and managed to move her back into the crowd. But the guerrillas soon noticed her absence and returned her to the bench. Eventually the five prisoners were ordered to lie face down on the floor of the plaza. Each was shot once in the back of the head. Irene was the first to be killed – about six meters from the door of the church.
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