Pat retired as Director of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annaghmakerrig, in January 2011. A former Curator at Chester Beatty Library and Director of National Library of Ireland, Pat is also a member of Royal Irish Academy. Pat has held a series of Research Fellowships at Queen's University Belfast, University of Cambridge, Boston College and Dublin Institute of Technology. Most recently she has worked as a freelance Library and Arts Consultant with such organisations as the Bar Council of Ireland and Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. 

Pat has published widely on Irish illustrators and Irish children's literature and also on the History of the Book in Ireland. She is author and presenter of a series of programmes on RTE Lyric fm 'A Spell of words and Music' which bring together in one space two of her greatest passions – poetry and music.

Pat has been Chair of the Judging Panel for the Irish Times Literary Award, The Press Photographer of the Year Award, and The Dublin Airport Authority Irish Children's Book of the Year. Chair of the Advisory Board "Decipher Project" a European Commission funded project (4.3 million) led by Digital Media Centre at DIT, for a the development of Cultural Heritage Narratives.

The project involves partners from the UK, Italy and the Czech Republic as well as the National Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Alinari 24 ORE, the world's oldest photographic archive.  The work will take three years and will result in exciting new technology to explore, investigate and present art, artists and collections through narrative.

Pat was appointed to Trustees of Chester Beatty Library in November 2011. Pat is married to Phelim Donlon, the former Drama and Opera Officer at the Arts Council, who was also the Director of the Auditoria project. They have two daughters and five grandchildren.