[3] He remained on the backbenches for several years until he was appointed to the cabinet by Taoiseach Éamon de Valera in 1957 as Minister for the Gaeltacht.
Ó Móráin, as Minister for Lands and the Gaeltacht, delivered a widely reported address to the Castlebar Chamber of Commerce in 1962.
[4] In the ensuing controversy, Ó Móráin and Lemass denied that there was any suggestion Ireland might or should abandon neutrality.
This political scandal saw Government ministers Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney dismissed by the Taoiseach for alleged involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle arms to the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.
He testified that he had passed on Garda intelligence reports about the involvement of ministers with the IRA to the Taoiseach before the arms were seized at Dublin Airport.