PLUNKETT, I received your letter, in which you ask me to co-operate with you in bringing together a small Committee of Members of Parliament to discuss certain measures to be proposed next Session for the benefit of Ireland.

While I cannot take as sanguine a view as you do of the benefits likely to flow from such a proceeding, I am unwilling to take the responsibility of declining to aid in any effort to promote useful legislation for Ireland.
I will, under the circumstances, co-operate with you in bringing such a Committee as you suggest together.

Very truly yours, J.E.

REDMOND.
October 21st, 1895.
Before these decisions were officially announced the idea had "caught on." Public bodies throughout the country endorsed the scheme.

The parliamentarians, who formed the nucleus of the Committee, came together and invited prominent men from all quarters to join them.