Seán Moore will always be synonymous with Ringsend. He is remembered by the prestigious Seán Moore Awards as well as Seán Moore Road and Park. Seán was born in 1913 and grew up in Irishtown and was educated locally at the Vocational School in Ringsend. When he finished his tuition he joined the Gas Company and became a member of the Workers Union of Ireland. He subsequently joined Fianna Fáil while continuing his studies at University College Dublin, where he received a diploma in Social and Economic Science.
Seán as Lord Mayor and JFK
His first taste of politics occurred in 1950 when he was elected to Dublin City Council. By 1963 he was made first citizen of Dublin, or Lord Mayor, a role which he cherished and described as, “a kind of ombudsman for the people.” He only held the position two days when John F. Kennedy became the first serving President of the USA to visit this country. Moore, it was said, conducted his responsibilities with distinction. This left a lasting impression on JFK, who at a ceremony at St Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle had two honorary degrees (Trinity College, and UCD) bestowed on him by Éamon de Valera and the freedom of the city by Seán Moore.
Letters from Kennedy to Moore thanking him and the City Council for making the visit to Dublin a most memorable one are housed in the National Library. His wife Jackie Kennedy had been pregnant at the time and had not accompanied JFK to Ireland. Two months after her husband returned to America a boy named Patrick was born by emergency caesarean section. The infant had respiratory distress syndrome and died. Moore wrote to Kennedy on hearing the sad news and in a subsequent letter Kennedy thanked the Lord Mayor for his generous messages of sympathy.
In November 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The death of the young Irish-American president was met in Ireland with great sorrow. Jackie Kennedy requested that a troupe of Irish cadets be sent to Washington for the president’s funeral later that year. She noted that her late husband’s trip to Ireland meant more to him than any other in his life.
In Ireland it was felt that a memorial should be erected to honour the deceased president. One particular suggestion was a Kennedy Memorial Concert Hall at Haddington Road. Moore, however, was more pragmatic. In a letter to Taoiseach, Sean Lemass, dated 18th December 1963, he noted that regarding the provision of a memorial to the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. “My own personal suggestion is that a memorial should take the form of a hospital or home for mentally handicapped children.” Kennedy was laid to rest in November of 1963 and Moore served out his term as Lord Mayor until 1964.
Moore in Politics
After this he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD in the 1965 general election, representing the Dublin South–East constituency. He proved himself a diligent constituent who took particular interest in local unemployment. He showed concern for the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland and marched in Derry on August 12 1969 (the Battle of the Bogside) as well as attending the Bloody Sunday funerals in 1972.
In 1979 he was appointed Minister of State at the office of the Taoiseach. Fianna Fáil’s Charles Haughey, who had taken the reins, made Moore Government Chief Whip (1979–1981). However, Moore’s health declined thereafter. The party lost power in 1981 and Moore continued in the Dáil but lost his seat in February of 1982. He fought one further general election in November of 1982 but was not re-elected.
Although retired from politics when he heard of the closure of Sir Patrick’s Dunn’s Hospital in August ‘86, Moore, always looking out for local interests, campaigned vigorously to replace the medical services that had once existed in the area. It was through such acts that Moore was admired locally and it was said that pensioners held a special reverence for him. Moore died at Jervis hospital in October of ‘86 aged 73. At the time he was a widower who had no children, and was survived by a sister. The funeral of the former Fianna Fáil Dáil deputy and city councillor was attended by thousands, including past Lord Mayors, politicians, and public representatives, but particularly Ringsenders – his local friends and supporters. His people. He is still fondly remembered in the area to this day.
