The Government has agreed a reshuffle of some of the most senior positions in the diplomatic service, The Irish Timeshas learned.
New ambassadors have been nominated for Washington, London, the Vatican, the US and European headquarters of the United Nations.
In addition, an embassy will be opened for the first time in Malawi, which becomes the latest in Ireland's list of priority countries for the receipt of development aid.
New ambassadors are also being appointed in Athens, Helsinki and Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg.
At the Cabinet meeting last Tuesday, the Government agreed to nominate Michael Collins as the new Ambassador to the US. The current Washington envoy, Noel Fahey, will become Ambassador to the Holy See.
Ireland's current representative in the Vatican, Philip McDonagh, becomes Ambassador to Finland, replacing Antóin MacUnfraidh, who moves to Athens as Ambassador. The current envoy to Greece, Margaret Hennessy, becomes Ambassador to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. She replaces James Sharkey who moves to Berne as Ambassador to Switzerland.
The new Ambassador in London will be David Cooney, currently head of Ireland's UN mission in New York. He will succeed Daithí Ó Ceallaigh who becomes Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, replacing Paul Kavanagh who has been appointed Ambassador at UN headquarters in New York.
The new Ambassador to Malawi will be Anne Barrington. She will open the first Irish embassy in Lilongwe, capital of Malawi, which has become the ninth of Ireland's "Partner Countries", most of them in Africa, which get priority treatment in the disbursement of development funds.
In line with normal diplomatic practice, all the nominations are subject to agreement by the host governments.
The new Washington envoy, Michael Collins, currently serves as second secretary-general at the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility for Northern Ireland, European and international affairs. Before being seconded to Merrion Street, he was Ambassador to the Czech Republic and, prior to that, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and other states in the Gulf region.
He previously served in Washington as political counsellor on NI from 1993 to 1995, in the early days of the peace process.
Mr Cooney, new Ambassador in London, is a former political director at the Department of Foreign Affairs and one of the chief intellectual heavyweights of the diplomatic service. He was part of the team involved in the negotiations which led to the Belfast Agreement of 1998.
Mr Kavanagh, Ambassador-designate to the UN in New York, previously worked in the UN Secretariat and was centrally involved in Ireland's successful campaign for election to the Security Council in 2001-02.
