The US special envoy to Northern Ireland, Mr Richard Haass, is due to arrive in London this morning on what is likely to be his last round of talks with all sides in the Northern Ireland peace process as a representative of the Bush administration.
A decision is to be taken later this month on whether Mr Haass will continue as special presidential envoy to Northern Ireland and if not, who his replacement will be, a State Department official said yesterday.
A replacement for Mr Haass will likely have ambassador status but may not have the title of "envoy" any longer, the State Department official said, adding that the new title is likely to be the "president's point person on Northern Ireland".
The official disclosed that when Mr Haass took the post on June 11th after leaving the State Department, it was envisaged as a "six-month limited operation. That period is up," the State Department official said.
"A decision now has to be taken if there is a further extension, or if someone else should be appointed, but the decision hasn't been made.
"It will be made in the next week or two."
No specific time period was announced when Mr Haass was appointed "special envoy of the President and the Secretary of State" after he left the administration to take up the post of president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an influential New York-based private research group, on July 1st.
The heavy demands of the position of head of the council, which involves international travel, makes it more likely that Mr Haass will decide to end his role as US envoy, sources in Washington said.
Mr Haass is expected to have discussions with the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, in London today before travelling on to Belfast to meet party leaders and then to Dublin for a meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, tomorrow afternoon.
He would be "taking stock to try to see where we are" after the elections and would talk to all the parties to see the way forward, the official said.
Regarding the Good Friday agreement, he noted that the "core principles have to be maintained, everyone agrees with that". Mr Haass was formerly policy planning director at the State Department during which time he acted as special envoy to the peace process for more than two years.
In June after discussions about his future with President Bush and US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, Mr Haass 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-à-vis Northern Ireland."