John Moher became an elected member of Cork County Council in 1950. He went on to contest the general election in 1951 but was unsuccessful and two years later suffered the same fate in a by-election.
However, a strong campaign saw him elected a TD to represent the Cork East constituency in the 1954 general election. He held his seat with his biggest vote in 1957 (6,628) and was again successful in the 1961 general election taking his place in the 17th Dail.
His fate would change four years later however, losing out in the 1965 general election and this, despite being able to claim credit for bringing the Dairy Research Centre (‘The Institute’) to Moorepark.
“Twenty years ago it was obvious that if we were ever to be competitive in dairy products, we had to eliminate the dual-purpose Shorthorn cow. The quickest and most effective way to do this was the establishment of A.I. stations. Against a hostile Department of Agriculture, alone I fought for an A.I. Station Mitchelstown and succeeded in obtaining a licence to import the first Dutch Friesian Bull ‘Rudolph Jan’, based in the pioneering Mitchelstown Station. Farmers must realise the absolute revolution that has since taken place in our dairying and livestock industry,” his election literature stated in 1965.
On the election trail he pointed out that in 1956, the building of the Cork Regional Hospital was abandoned, the site at Bishopstown having been purchased in 1936. The Cork Health Authority was established in 1960. Moher was elected chairman in ’63 and so put a plan in place to reactivate the project. It was a proud day for him when, in January 1973 as chairman of the Cork Regional Hospital Board, he stood alongside the then Taoiseach Jack Lynch as he laid the foundation stone.
However, his involvement on the hospital project was not without controversy and six month’s after work began on the building, John Moher was removed, without explanation, from the chair of the Hospital’s Board by the then Tanaiste and Minister for Health, Labour’s Brendan Corish. Moher had given seven years commitment to the project and naturally, felt hugely aggrieved.
After his 1965 defeat, he continued to serve on Cork County Council until 1974. He was part of the welcoming committee for the 1963 visit of U.S. President John F Kennedy to Ireland. In 1960, he travelled to Japan where he addressed the Inter Parliamentary Union Conference representing 51 nations, in Tokyo. Also in 1960, he strongly opposed the destruction of Shanbally Castle near Clogheen. The castle, built in the early 1800s by Cornelius O’Callaghan who held the title of Lord Lismore, was destroyed in 1960 by the Government of the day (Fianna Fáil).
John Moher died in November 1985.
