Looney was brought up in a Catholic family in the Greenhills region of south Dublin.[1] She has spoken about having been sexually assaulted on two occasions, while a child and as a young adult.[2][3]
Looney began her career as a writer for the Irish political music magazine, Hot Press, before going on to a career with BBC RadioinLondon during the 1990s. She regularly contributed to The Gerry Ryan ShowonRTÉ 2fm until the death of Gerry Ryan in 2010.
She was previously a regular contributor to topical comedy show The Panel. Looney's other television credits include working as a reporter for news programme Capital D and presenting two series of the travel series Voyager on RTÉ. Looney is also the creator of Celebrity Bainisteoir, having first submitted the idea to RTÉ in 2004.[4] As a screenwriter, she has contributed to the television shows The Fast Show, No Limits, This Is Ireland, and You’re A Star, among others.
Looney writes columns for the newspaper Irish Daily Mail and magazine Woman's Way.[5] Her newspaper columns provided the material for her first book, Misadventures in Motherhood: Life with The Small Girl, The Boy and The Toddler (2005). She is also a playwright. Her debut play Dandelions was a commercial success and focused on the lives of women in suburban Ireland; it became the first in a trilogy of plays.[6]
