He spoke regularly at the Dublin University Debating Society, often against his friend Thomas Osborne Davis, maintaining that Ireland's prosperity would be better secured by closer relations with Great Britain than by political independence.
[1] After taking pupils at Carlow, Moore read law, and was called to the bar as a member of Gray's Inn 28 April 1837; but took up political economy.
He became a member of an Irish anti-slavery society, and in 1841 visited Limerick to oppose a scheme for exporting apprentices to the West Indies, as indentured labour.
[1][2] George Thompson introduced Moore to John Bright, he got to know Richard Cobden, and he joined the Anti-Cornlaw League.
[1] When the Corn Laws were repealed, in 1846, Moore remained in England, visiting Ireland occasionally, and withdrew from public life, in broken health.