Boyle was born in 1889 in Bushey Park, near Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow Ireland, and spent her entire life in her family home there. Her body of work was quite diverse in that she wrote orchestral scores and chamber music, opera choral music, ballet scores and songs for voice and piano. Boyle's compositions bare resemblance to the lyrical symphonic landscapes created by her composition teacher, and famous composer of the time, Ralph Vaughan Williams. Although she was a prolific composer, she never became widely famous, most likely due to the fact that she was somewhat isolated for most of her life.

Boyle grew up in the limited social circle of her mother and father. Her first music teacher was her father, William Foster Boyle, who was a clergyman at St. Patrick’s Church, Powerscourt. As children, Ina and her sister took violin and cello lessons from their governess. She studied composition in Dublin in her early twenties and one of her teachers, Percy Buck, was a music professor at Trinity College, Dublin

Boyle had her first success in 1919 with her composition "The Magic Harp," for which she received a Carnegie award. Her piece was published by Carnegie United Kingdom Trust and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 1923 Boyle began taking composition lessons with Ralph Vaughan Williams, but the outbreak of World War ended her ability to travel to and from London.
Boyle continued composing music until her death in 1967 but many of her compositions remain unpublished and unperformed. Some of her manuscripts including "The Magic Harp," are preserved in the Trinity College, Dublin Manuscript Library. There was an exhibition of her works at the college in 2013.