Aisling Walsh studied Fine Art at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology. There was no film course there at that time but there was a film appreciation society that she joined and through this she developed an interest in filmmaking and started making her own short movies. The year following her graduation she worked in a shop to get the money together to go to the National Film School in Beaconsfield. As Ashling felt there was no real film industry in Ireland then, she continued to live in and work in England. She had a number of projects financed there and also got regular work in television.Ashling has previously made two quite controversial films Joyriders and Sinners. Song for a Raggy Boy is based on the true story by Patrick Galvin and is set in the late 1930s. The film centres around a lay teacher (Aidan Quinn) who joins an Irish Reformatory school and doesn't like what he sees. He has to find the courage to stand up and fight against the tough regime.