A native of Moyvane, County Kerry, he was educated in Listowel and at University College Dublin.
In 1974, he moved to England from Canada where he had taught English literature at the University of Manitoba, and subsequently became a live-in gardener in the Carmelite monastery at Boars Hill, Oxford.
[1] Moriarty subsequently lived at the foot of Mangerton Mountain in County Kerry until his death.
[2] A film "inspired by the works" of Moriarty, Dreamtime, Revisited, was directed by Dónal Ó Céilleachair and Julius Ziz and released in October 2012.
[3] A series of interviews of Moriarty, by Joe Duffy on the RTÉ radio show Liveline, are available as an iTunes podcast.