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US president-elect Donald Trump has reportedly chosen Brian Burns to be the next ambassador to Ireland.
Mr Trump told the New York Times he had chosen Mr Burns to succeed Kevin Francis O'Malley in the role.
Mr Burns is the son of an adviser to Joe Kennedy, the father of former US president John F Kennedy.
He has strong Irish roots and is understood to have traced his ancestry to Co Kerry.
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A spokesman for Mr Trump said no decision had been made yet.
The US embassy did not comment on the proposed appointment insisting this was a matter for the president-elect’s administration.
Mr Burns is a close friend of the Trump family and his name had been mentioned in speculation earlier this month.
He is a businessman and a philanthropist from Massachusetts but his grandparents were Irish immigrants.
Mr Burns was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame alongside US vice-president Joe Biden in 2013.
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