[2] Present at the meeting were Charles Dawson, High Sheriff of Limerick, T. D. Sullivan, editor of The Nation; and Bryan O'Looney.
[3] Writing in 1937, Douglas Hyde also remembers himself, George Sigerson, Thomas O'Neill Russell, J. J. McSweeney of the Royal Irish Academy, and future MP James O'Connor as being present.
[4] Its patron was John MacHale, Archbishop of Tuam, its first president was Lord Francis Conyngham, and its first vice-presidents included Isaac Butt and The O'Conor Don.
Its mission statement said that it was "possible and desirable to preserve the Irish Language in those parts of the country where it is spoken, with a view to its further extension and cultivation.
[7] It took a conciliatory approach to the British government and civil service in pursuing its aims, in contrast to the later Gaelic League, which was anti-British in character.