 Richardson grew up in Tramore, one of seven children of Arthur and Julie Richardson.After attending primary school at The Star of the Sea convent girls' school in Tramore, and St Angela's Secondary School, Ursuline Convent, Waterford, she studied at Trinity College, Dublin, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, promoted in the usual way to a Master of Arts degree in 1982.In 1977, she received a Rotary Scholarship to study at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).