American President Joe Biden looks set to announce a new US envoy to Northern Ireland in the coming weeks.
Names being mentioned are former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and one-time Congressman Bruce Morrison.
The position has been vacant since Donald Trump appointee, Mick Mulvaney, resigned from the role in January of last year.
Ray O'Hanlon, Editor of the Irish Echo in New York, says appointing a US peace envoy could sort out ongoing difficulties over the Northern Ireland protocol:
"If the British welcome an envoy and see this person as someone to engage with... Obviously we have this issue of a trade agreement between the US and the UK hanging in the background and the warnings from Congress that there would be no such trade deal if the protocol was swept aside and a hard border reimposed on the island of Ireland, so in this instance, an envoy might be an opportunity for the British if if they choose to take it"
