As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was returned to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland four times between 1885 and 1918.
[citation needed] Admitted as a solicitor in 1882, he practised as such and was returned to parliament four times, first as a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party for Cork city from 1885 to 1900, in which year standing as a Healyite nationalist he was defeated by William O'Brien in a bitter campaign.
[citation needed] In 1910, for North East Cork, this time as a supporter and member of William O'Brien's All-for-Ireland Party (AFIL).
His son, also called Maurice (1887–1943), educated at Clongowes Wood College stood unsuccessfully as an AFIL candidate for West Waterford in December 1910, was a regular contributor (including much satirical verse) to the O'Brienite Cork Free Press.
[citation needed] Maurice (junior) moved to England after the founding of the Irish Free State where he was both a successful lawyer, and a broadcaster for the BBC during the early years of World War II.