The US State Department announced on Monday the appointment of Joe Kennedy III, the great grandnephew of John F Kennedy, as Washington's special envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Mr Kennedy's work will build on “the long-standing US commitment to supporting peace, prosperity and stability in Northern Ireland”, including the landmark Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Kennedy tweeted that his appointment was “an incredible honour” and that he looks forward to working with President Joe Biden to “promote economic prosperity and opportunity” in Northern Ireland.
The US ambassador to Ireland, Claire Cronin, added that she was “thrilled” by Mr Kennedy's appointment, calling the new envoy “smart, hardworking and the perfect person for the job”.
Mr Kennedy is a member of the politically elite Irish-American Kennedy family, whose financial power and status in Washington goes back over a century.
He is son of former congressman Joseph Kennedy II and grandson of former senator and attorney general Robert F Kennedy.
His great uncles were former president John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, and Ted Kennedy, a long-time Democratic senator who died in 2009.
The newly appointed special envoy represented his home state of Massachusetts in Congress for eight years, has served as the state's assistant district attorney and worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Mr Kennedy will replace Mick Mulvaney, who left the position at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency in January 2021.
Mr Blinken added that Mr Kennedy's work will parallel other diplomatic efforts in Europe to engage with political leaders on efforts to restore the Northern Ireland Executive and to resolve differences on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol — the part of the Brexit deal that keeps the region in the EU’s single market to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland — has long hampered relations between London and Brussels, even though both sides agreed to a trade deal in December 2020.
The Kennedy family — a US political dynasty
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Members of the Kennedy family pose for a photo circa 1948 in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. From left, John, Jean, Rose, Joseph Sr, Patricia, Robert, Eunice and in the foreground Edward. AP -
Joseph Patrick Kennedy, wife Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy and their five children pose in the garden of the US embassy in London in 1937. Getty Images -
John F Kennedy and wife Jacqueline take a ride on their sailboat in Hyannis Port. AP -
President-elect John F Kennedy, centre, is surrounded by family members. AP -
John F Kennedy, right, and Richard Nixon appear in the fourth and final presidential debate in New York. The 1960 presidential election offered the country's first televised debates. AP -
Former US president Dwight Eisenhower shakes hands with Jacqueline Kennedy as she and president-elect John F Kennedy arrive at the North Portico of the White House on inauguration day, January 20, 1961. AP -
President John F Kennedy and British prime minister at the time Harold Macmillan stand in the West Wing Colonnade of the White House in 1961. AFP -
Jackie Kennedy boards a plane with her sister, Lee Radziwill. Getty Images -
Edward Kennedy at the White House in 1962, flanked by his brothers Robert and John. AP -
Jackie Kennedy leads her daughter Caroline's pony, Macaroni, while giving gives a tour of the White House grounds to Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran in 1962. AP -
The Kennedy children play in the Oval Office at White House. AFP -
Deputy administrator of Nasa Robert Seamans and Wernher von Braun with John F Kennedy in November 1963. Nasa / AP -
Jackie Kennedy with her children during the funeral of her husband on November 25, 1963. AP -
Eunice Kennedy cheers on a young athlete during the Special Olympics, started by the Kennedy family. Getty Images -
Joe Biden when he was in the Senate with Edward Kennedy in 1987. AP -
Joe Biden talks to then-president Bill Clinton's Supreme Court nominee Stephen Breyer, as Edward Kennedy looks on. AP -
John F Kennedy Jr answering journalists questions soon after his mother Jackie Kennedy's death in New York. AFP -
John F Kennedy Jr and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy arrive at the White House for a state dinner in 1998. Both died in a plane crash in 1999. AFP -
A woman adds a candle to a makeshift memorial during a candlelight vigil for Edward Kennedy in Washington. Getty Images / AFP -
Former US representative Joseph Kennedy II speaking at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston in 2009. AP -
The Kennedy brothers, from left, John, Robert and Edward. AP -
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, seen here at Viking Press, became a book editor. Photo: Corbis -
Caroline Kennedy, the sole surviving child of president John F Kennedy, is the current US ambassador to Australia and previously served as ambassador to Japan under president Barack Obama. Getty Images / AFP -
John F Kennedy, right, Robert F Kennedy, second from right, and Patricia Kennedy, front left, pose with friends in Palm Beach in 1936. AP -
Eunice Kennedy Shriver with her husband, Robert Sargent Shriver. Photo: WireImage -
Wearing a gown by Christian Dior, Eunice Kennedy marries Robert Sargent Shriver in 1957. Getty Images -
Maria Shriver and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007. Ms Shriver is the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. AP -
President Sheikh Mohamed, who was Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi at the time, greets Maria Shriver. Photo: Ministry of the Presidential Court -
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver have three children: Christina, Patrick and Katherine. AP -
Maria Shriver speaks during the Women's March in Los Angeles in 2021. AFP -
Robert F Kennedy addresses campaign workers moments before being shot in Los Angeles in 1968, his wife Ethel at his side. AP -
Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F Kennedy, in 2014. Reuters -
The Kennedy Family at Hyannis Port in 1931. From left, Robert, John, Eunice, Jean, Joseph Senior, Rose, Patricia, Kathleen, Joseph Jr and Rosemary. The dog in the foreground is Buddy. Photo: John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum -
Katherine Schwarzenegger, daughter of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger, is married to US actor Chris Pratt. AP -
Robert F Kennedy's daughter Kerry Kennedy in 2021. She was previously married to former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. AFP -
Robert F Kennedy Jr speaks at the Defeat the Mandates rally in Washington, protesting against the Covid-19 vaccine. EPA -
US actress Cheryl Hines is married to Robert F Kennedy Jr. AFP -
Cheryl Hines condemned her husband's remarks comparing the Covid vaccine and mask mandates to the Holocaust. Getty -
Arnold Schwarzenegger and daughter Christina Schwarzenegger. Photo: US Special Olympics
