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No decision has been made on appointing a Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, the White House said on Tuesday, amid growing calls for an envoy to be appointed.
Asked by the Irish Times if the Biden administration was considering appointing an envoy after more two dozen members of congress wrote to President Biden requesting an envoy to be selected, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said: “We certainly continue to closely monitor issues in Northern Ireland.
“We welcome the provisions of [the] trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union and the Northern Ireland protocol which will help to protect the gains of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.”
However, she said she had no personnel decisions to announce regarding the appointment of ambassadors.
More than four months after Mr Biden’s inauguration, the vast majority of ambassadorial posts remain unfilled, including the ambassador to Ireland.
It is expected that the US president may name a number of ambassadors simultaneously in the coming weeks and conversations are ongoing within the West Wing about specific names.
Unlike many countries, most of the US top diplomats are chosen by the president and have traditionally been donors or political allies.
The Irish and British governments are understood to support the appointment of a Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. The position was last held by Mick Mulvaney, a Trump appointee.
Ms Psaki also said there were no changes to the United States’ travel policies impacting EU citizens despite the EU’s decision to ease restrictions on Americans travelling to Europe this summer.
Under the travel ban introduced by Mr Trump last March and re-activated by Mr Biden in January, most European citizens are unable to travel to the United States, with ESTA visa issuance on hold.
“Currently we have no announcements in regards to lifting existing travel restrictions,” said Ms Psaki. “Any decision to change or lift them will be based on the guidance of our public health experts.”
She added: “I will say, of course we want to have travel resume between the United States and Europe and other countries around the world. We’re very mindful of the pandemic, ensuring we are taking every step we can to keep the American people safe.”
Ms Psaki was speaking as Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney met with two of the Biden administration’s highest-ranking figures — Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan — on Monday evening at Shannon airport.
Mr Blinken was en route to the Middle East, where he met with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian authority today.
According to a read out from the State Department, Mr Coveney and Mr Blinken condemned the “outrageous diversion of Ryanair Flight 4978 in Belarus,” and discussed Ireland’s role on the UN Security Council and the Iran nuclear deal negotiations.
It is understood that the recent outbreak of violence in the Middle East was also discussed – an issue on which Ireland and the United States hold different perspectives.
Mr Sullivan, who has strong Irish-American roots, also discussed the growing international outrage over the Belarusian move to force a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk with Mr Coveney. According to the National Security Council they “condemned the forced diversion of a flight between two EU member states and the subsequent removal and arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich in Minsk by the Lukashenka regime, and they agreed to remain in close touch on an appropriate response.”
Brexit and its impact on the Belfast Agreement and the situation in Northern Ireland was also discussed.
According to a spokeswoman for the National Security Council in Washington, both men “reaffirmed their commitment to protecting the gains of the Good Friday Agreement for all communities in Northern Ireland.”