Mr Richard Haass is to be designated the Bush administration's special envoy for Northern Ireland after he leaves the State Department at the end of this month, the White House has announced.
Mr Haass, who as policy planning director at the State Department also acted as special envoy to the NI peace process for more than two years, told The Irish Times yesterday that he was "upbeat" about a breakthrough in the North in the coming months.
After discussions about his future with President Bush and US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, he said "the feeling was this was a critical time and it was best to avoid any sort of a hiatus on our side, so for the foreseeable future I will essentially continue in the role I had vis-a-vis Northern Ireland."
The British and Irish Governments and the parties in Northern Ireland are understood to have lobbied in Washington for the continuance of Mr Haass's role, as he had built up expertise and trust on all sides.
His negotiating talents could be crucial in the next six months, during which the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr Paul Murphy, is hoping to reconvene the assembly after autumn elections.
With the uncertainty over his future removed, Mr Haass is considering a trip to Northern Ireland before the summer, or talks with parties in Washington in the coming weeks.
Asked if he felt there was a possibility of a breakthrough soon in Northern Ireland, Mr Haass replied, "Very much so."
He said, "I think we made a lot of progress in the spring and things were said that, even though they fell short of what was wanted, still represented significant progress and I'm still upbeat about what can be accomplished.
"I'm also very much a believer in the desirability of holding elections in the autumn, so anything I can do to contribute to any of those outcomes I will do my best."
Asked what he felt was the major stumbling block, he recalled that the British government had made the point that if there were to be elections, "they wanted to be confident they would actually be part of the context that would allow the restoration of political institutions. They made the assessment this simply wasn't likely to happen, that the Republicans had not made sufficient commitments that would lead unionists to essentially accept them as a partner.
"My goal is to bring about conditions where elections would be a 'way station' on the way to the immediate restoration of institutions."
He did not envisage problems acting both as presidential envoy and president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
"Over the past 2½ years I've been able to manage my responsibilities as the policy planning director and was also able to to meet the challenges of Northern Ireland," he said.
"I will do what is necessary to do both, and if it turns out that I can't do both adequately, I will inform the Secretary of State."
Mr Haass (51) is resigning from the State Department to take over the presidency of the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based private research group, on July 1st.
The White House said that as "special envoy of the President and the Secretary of State", Mr Haass "will be able to continue his outstanding work in support of the peace process in Northern Ireland over the past two years".
It said the US "continues to support full implementation of the Good Friday agreement and stands ready to assist the process in any way".
The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, welcomed the announcement. "This decision is clear evidence of the US administration's commitment to the peace process," he said.