I congratulate Jim Kenny on his nomination. I look forward to meeting with him and to learning more about his views on Northern Ireland and the important relationship between Ireland and the United States."
Ted Kennedy was putting his marker down last week, reminding the Bush administration that the road to the US embassy in Dublin still included a rest stop in his Capitol Hill office.
The announcement by the White House that Kenny – an Illinois construction magnate with strong financial ties to the Bush administration and the Republican Party – was to be the next ambassador to Dublin was not a moment too soon.
Irish Americans who like to think that the peace process depends in part on the steady application of top-flight diplomacy were becoming quite exasperated.
Sure, the State Department's Richard Haass had been keeping the administration's hand in, and doing it rather well, but he had just moved to his new job at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.
And while Haass was going to remain as the White House special representative to the peace process, this would only be a temporary arrangement. And few expected that he would have all that much time to devote to Northern Ireland anyway given that his new employers take a keen interest in global affairs, just about all of them.
The announcement that Kenny would be the new man in Dublin came as no real surprise.
His was the only name that had been mentioned consistently and seriously over the long months since Ambassador Richard Egan packed his bags and returned to Massachusetts.
The confirmation that it would indeed be Kenny came as the Republic's foreign minister, Brian Cowen, met in Washington with Senator Kennedy and his colleague and ally Senator Chris Dodd.
A few weeks previously, Kennedy and Dodd had demanded the immediate naming of a new US ambassador to Ireland so the meeting of the three may have been a final spur.
In a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell at the end of May, Kennedy and Dodd expressed frustration that an important diplomatic posting had been left open for six months.
Given the "important relationship between the United States and Ireland, both diplomatically and economically," the senators asked that the Department of State "move" on a nominee as soon as possible.
"We know that you continue to be deeply involved with issues of the utmost urgency and we respect that," the senators said. "Unfortunately, we have begun to hear reports that the people of Ireland feel they are being slighted by the delay in the selection of the new ambassador."
The senators went on to state that Ireland had always been one of America's closest allies.
"The ties between our two countries continue to be strong and the active presence of a US ambassador in Dublin is an indispensable symbol and essential part of this relationship," the senators wrote.
"We look forward very much to the prompt appointment of a new US ambassador with the ability and dedication to be an outstanding representative of our country to the Irish people."
Kennedy and Dodd stated that it was "even more important" to have an ambassador in place in Dublin given the impending departure from the State Department of Richard Haass.
The senators concluded by expressing the hope that the nominee for ambassador would be given high priority in the background investigation and other steps necessary for nomination.
"Ireland is too important a nation and too good a friend for the position to remain vacant for so long," the senatorial duo concluded.
As it happens, the position is likely to remain vacant for a little longer.
It would appear unlikely, at this late stage of the summer, that the US Senate will be able to hold hearings and clear Kenny's nomination.
Speculation is that it might be September before that process can take place. If that turns out to be the case, it could be October before Kenny heads for the embassy in Ballsbridge. That would mean almost an entire year without a resident US ambassador in Dublin.
This sort of thing is not unheard of in diplomacy. And strictly speaking, Egan has remained the ambassador even since his return to the US. But form and appearance matter for a fair bit in diplomacy too.
Many Irish Americans take the view that there would never have been such a lengthy hiatus had the Court of Saint James been required to wave bye bye to its top American guest.
Be that as it may, Kennedy and Dodd are expected to wish Kenny bon voyage... but not before they get their 10 cents in.
Kennedy gave Egan a bit of a going over before the billionaire businessman from Kennedy's home state headed for Dublin.
And what may well be discussed in some detail this time around is the US ambassador's precise role in the still evolving and oft troubled peace process.
Word leaked out that Egan was unhappy with a role that kept him confined south of the border.
And if there's one thing about politically appointed businessmen – as opposed to professional diplomats – it's that they can easily become bored.
The Bush administration will not want to hear of any unhappiness in Dublin during an election year when Irish American voters will be especially valuable in states such as Pennsylvania, New York – where the Republican Party Convention is being held – and indeed in Kenny's own Illinois.
One intriguing aspect to Kenny's new career as plenipotentiary is that few people seem to know what he looks like.
Egan's photo was readily available when he was nominated but Irish American press reports of Kenny's nomination carried no photos at all. Kenny, for all intents and purposes last week, might as well have been the man in the iron mask.
On top of this, and in an ironic twist, it was Bill Clinton, whose words – in a lecture at the University if Ulster in Derry – and familiar face, provided the week's main US input to the peace process even as Kenny's name came out of the hat.
As well as meeting with Senators Kennedy and Dodd, the ambassadorial nominee would do himself no harm if he also had a chat with the former president.
That indeed would be diplomatic.
