A MOVE is under way within the US State Department to have the American ambassador to Ireland reprimanded by the Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, for allegedly blocking dissent within the American embassy in Dublin.
The dispute, which one senior official described as "very nasty", has its roots in Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith's defiance of the traditionally pro-British State Department over the conduct of the peace process.
The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jesse Helms, has been made aware of the situation and has asked for more details, according to a Congressional source.
Senator Helms could embarrass the ambassador by publicising the affair, as he did last month when the US envoy to the Vatican, Mr Raymond Flynn, was reprimanded by Mr Christopher for failing to clear allegedly partisan correspondence.
The State Department Inspector General has drawn up a report on the complaint, sources said.
Mrs Kennedy Smith made enemies in the State Department when she backed the Irish side in several controversies. These included the issuing of a visa to the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, in January 1994 and to the IRA veteran Mr Joe Cahill in August 1994, and the lifting of the fund-raising ban on Mr Adams in March last year.
A spokesman for Mrs Kennedy Smith said that the ambassador had always encouraged "a full and frank discussion of policy issues among embassy staff' and their transmission to Washington.
The dissent channel, in existence since the Vietnam war, is a method whereby US diplomats can transmit opposition to USI policy to the State Department. It was used by a US ambassador in South America to protest against US plans to invade Haiti.
A senior Congress source sympathetic to Irish issues said that there would be support for Mrs Kennedy Smith on Capitol Hill.
"Her courageous and unorthodox approach to bring peace to Ireland was a breath of fresh air, from a State Department often viewed as 10A Downing Street," he said.
Mrs Kennedy Smith also trod on diplomatic toes when she crossed the Border into Northern Ireland where US policy is the responsibility of the US ambassador in London, Admiral William Crowe. The two have disagreed on crucial decisions.
There is a long history of officials complaining about the actions of political appointees like Mrs Kennedy Smith, according to an official. "This happens all the time."
Two diplomats alleged that they were shut out from policy decisions in Dublin, a source said, but this could not be confirmed from the State Department, which did not return calls on the issue.
Mr Flynn was charged with sending correspondence to leading US Catholics referring indirectly to Republican policy on welfare as war on the poor. Mr Christopher said he failed to exercise "prudence and good judgment in avoiding the appearance of partisanship.