After Cromwell's departure Ireton assumed control of English military and administration within Ireland. The limited time that Ireton spent in Ireland makes assessment of his rule problematic. This period witnessed only the beginning of English attempts to remodel Ireland. Yet Ireton's actions and statements still indicate his own ideas with regard to how the New Model's limited control of Ireland should be translated into settlement. As Lord Deputy, Ireton was, in practice, President of the Parliamentary Commissioners, but was also appointed as Lord President of Munster. In these capacities Ireton's statements and actions show how he shared Cromwell's views with regard to the Irish and Catholicism. They indicate how, as elsewhere in his career, his religious conviction most underpinned his actions. Wheeler stated that had:

This is to misread the approach of the English. The terms Ireton offered at Limerick and Cromwell's Declaration with regard to the Irish people show there was not a simple approach to the question of Catholicism. The distinction made by Cromwell and Ireton between priests, leadership and people indicates that while toleration would not be offered there was still a real element of pragmatism in how Catholicism was dealt with in response to the problems of long-term settlement in Ireland.