Much of the force of the current US input into the peace process is down to Richard Haass, writes Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor.
To the Taoiseach, he is "our trusted friend". As far as the Ulster Unionists are concerned he is "up to speed and very quick". Sinn Féin views him as a master of "the complexities and nuances of the process as Bill Clinton was and that's saying something. . .". The SDLP thinks he is "somebody you could rely on, a clear-headed diplomat".
He is the author of a book on management, the title of which would bring a wry smile to the face of anyone who worked for a body with more than five employees: The Bureaucratic Entrepreneur: How to be Effective in any Unruly Organisation.
Richard Haass, on whom the title ambassador was conferred by the US Senate, has written another nine books on the subject he is most closely associated with in Ireland, namely US foreign policy. Off the record, politicians on all sides agree, his influence on US policy is significant. President Bush's intervention in the peace process this week is founded on Mr Haass's work.
There is nothing like the natural warmth between Irish politicians in general and Republicans as there clearly is with the Democrats - especially under Bill Clinton. But Mr Haass, George W. Bush's special adviser on Ireland, clearly makes up for that.
Officially he is the director of policy planning for the US Department of State. What that means is that he is the Bush administration's main man when it comes to Ireland and the peace process.
While he's at it, the Brooklyn native is also US co-ordinator for policy regarding the future of Afghanistan.
The CV which qualified him for these positions is impressive. He has been vice-president and director of foreign policy studies at The Brookings Institution, where he held the Sydney Stein Jnr chair in international security.
In addition to his published works, he has been a frequent contributor to the foreign affairs journals and the opinion pages of heavyweight newspapers. He has been a consultant with NBC news.
Then there's his government experience.
He assisted George Bush senior until 1993 and was senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. In 1991 he received the presidential Citizen's Medal for his contributions to the development and articulation of US policy during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Before that he held a range of posts at both the State Department and the Department of Defence and was once a legislative aide in the US Senate.
The list goes on and on - a bit like his academic qualifications. These include parchments from Oxford and US universities. He has been a director of national security programmes and a senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, a visiting professor of international studies at Hamilton College, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a lecturer in public policy at the J.F. Kennedy school of government at Harvard.
Somewhere in the mix, he also has a wife and two children.
His involvement in the peace process has been markedly different in style to that of President Clinton, but has nonetheless been strikingly significant.
A senior Sinn Féin source puts it succinctly. The Irish Times was told that President Bush's sure-footedness on the peace process at Hillsborough this week was down mainly to Richard Haass.
"Richard Haass is as up to speed on the complexities and nuances of the process as Bill Clinton was, and that's saying something because Bill Clinton was even way ahead of his own advisers. So with his own adviser so clued-in on Ireland, President Bush was bound to say the right things here."
Mr Michael McGimpsey of the UUP also praises the Haass contribution - albeit from a different angle.
"He is up to speed and very quick. He is on-message as far as the US administration is concerned. Post 9/11 he showed [the Bush administration] has no time for terrorism. A line had been drawn in the sand, a direct philosophy which was long overdue." Mr McGimpsey added that as far as the paramilitaries were concerned, Mr Haass made it clear they should have no capability and no activity. That view "encapsulates the man".
The SDLP is effusive. Party chairman Mr Alex Attwood commends his power to assimilate and absorb detail and admires his ability to "cut to the point very quickly".
"He is somebody you can rely on," he says. "And once he was convinced, he would do what he had to do. He is likeable, but he has to get the business done very quickly. That's not to say he's a cold fish, but he is very deliberate and clear in his thinking. He's considerate, thoughtful." Stories abound about the Haass style. Seamus Mallon is said to have said of him following their first meeting: "That man asked all the right questions and he asked them in the right way".
His diplomatic skills mean that he can publicly disagree with Sinn Féin on something as sensitive and important as policing, yet still command their respect.
Of course, not everyone signs up to the Haass fan club. The DUP's Sammy Wilson insists he has "swallowed the British government and Northern Ireland Office line on the \ agreement and on policing. He listens more than Clinton, but you're still up against a brick wall."