to Britain, where food shortages led to a boom period for Irish agriculture. Much of Plunkett's time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States. After the Easter Rising of 1916, when he heard of executions, he sought clemency for its remaining leaders, including Constance Markievicz, except for anyone involved in regular crime. From July 1917 to May 1918 Plunkett chaired the Irish Convention, which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost what would have been a historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to the issue of land purchase. Until 1922 Plunkett worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal, the Irish Statesman, to advance that aim, for which he was rejected by those working for an Irish Republic. Marginalisation and departure from Ireland In 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was implemented, Plunkett was nominated to the first Seanad Éireann, the upper chamber of the parliament of the new Irish state. In recognition of his contributions and ideas, he was one of those appointed for a term of 12 years. As a senator he met Michael Collins, whom he described as "simple yet cunning". His work on cooperation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War in 1923, his home, Kilteragh, in Foxrock, County Dublin, was one of some 300 country houses targeted by the IRA and burned down, the fire taking with it many of the records of the Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject. Plunkett wrote of his sorrow that "the healthiest house in the world, and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland" had been destroyed. He resigned from the Seanad in November 1923. Later years and the Plunkett Foundation Plunkett moved to Weybridge, England. On 21 December 1918 he set up the Sir Horace Plunkett Foundation, which moved fully to England in 1924, and is now the charitable Plunkett Foundation. The foundation launched in 1919 with £5,000 to support its work, including education, with the co-operative movement and other community organisations. As of 2022, the foundation continues its work. Plunkett continued to promote and spread his ideas for agricultural cooperatives. In 1924 he presided over