An announcement by US President George Bush of his nomination for new ambassador to Ireland is imminent, according to sources in Washington.
Mr Bush is expected to ask the senate to approve Chicago businessman Mr James Kenny for the post, left vacant since Mr Richard Egan resigned in December.
Mr Kenny, head of a Chicago construction company, has been in line for the post since January. The reasons for the long delay in his nomination are not known but may be connected to a lengthy vetting process, or to Mr Kenny's value to Mr Bush as a Republican Party fund-raiser in Illinois.
An announcement that Mr Harold Byron Smith, former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, would become chairman of the 2004 Bush Illinois campaign was "on hold" until the White House named Mr Jim Kenny as ambassador to Ireland, the Chicago Sun Times reported on June 12th.
Mr Kenny was the Bush Illinois finance chairman in 2000.
In May, two senior Democratic senators, Mr Edward Kennedy and Mr Christopher Dodd complained to US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell that people in Ireland felt "slighted" by the delay in nominating a successor to Mr Egan.
They said "the active presence of a US ambassador in Dublin is an indispensable symbol and essential part" of the close relationship between the two countries.
Since his return to the US, Mr Egan has become a key Bush campaigner in the 2004 presidential campaign.