After the assassination of Shane O'Neill in 1567 he was appointed Governor of Ulster and served as a member of the Irish Parliament. At about this time he petitioned William Cecil, Queen Elizabeth's principal secretary, for a recall to England citing "for the recovery of my eyes", but his ambitions still rested in Ireland, and particularly in the southern province of Munster. In April 1569 he proposed the establishment of a presidency and council for the province, and pursued the notion of an extensive settlement around Baltimore (at the southwest tip of modern County Cork), which was approved by the Dublin council. At the same time he was involved with Sidney and Sir Thomas Smith, the secretary of state, in planning the Plantation of Ulster, a large settlement of the northern province of Ulster, by Devonshire gentlemen.