UNITED STATES secretary of state Hillary Clinton has taken personal charge of the Northern Ireland brief for the Obama administration but has yet to decide whether to take on the role of special envoy permanently.
Informed sources told The Irish Timesthat Mrs Clinton has no plans to visit Ireland in early September, contrary to some news reports yesterday.
A state department spokesman said yesterday he had no knowledge of any intention by Mrs Clinton to take on the role of special envoy.
“I have no indication about that at present other than that it’s a rumour,” he said.
Mrs Clinton is known to be frustrated at the lengthy vetting process required for senior state department appointees.
“The process, the clearance and vetting process, is a nightmare. And it takes far longer than any of us would want to see. It is frustrating beyond words,” she told staff at Usaid, the development arm of the state department, last week.
In an interview with The Irish Timeslast March, Mrs Clinton said the governments in Dublin and London and the parties in the North had persuaded her that a special envoy from the US could play a useful role.
“It’s not someone who’s going to negotiate a peace agreement. It is someone who will be a contact person for the parties in Northern Ireland, who will be available to facilitate and co-ordinate on behalf of any political concerns that the parties have in Northern Ireland in furtherance of the Good Friday accord in pursuit of peace,” she said.
“So it will be a position that demonstrates unequivocally America’s interest and commitment. But it will also be a position that will be shaped by the needs of the parties who, after all, are governing themselves and assuming devolved authority and responding to challenges . . . And I think that someone who understands what it took for the people of Northern Ireland to get to this point is someone who could be of most assistance.”
The Government will welcome Mrs Clinton’s personal leadership on the North, regardless of whether she assumes the title of special envoy. If the secretary of state does become special envoy, she will disappoint numerous Irish-American Democratic insiders in Washington and New York who have designs on the post.
Sources have also revealed to The Irish Timesthat, regardless of her decision on the special envoy's role, Mrs Clinton is likely to choose an economic envoy to promote economic development in the North.