Taoiseach Enda Kenny, in New York this week, is poised to nominate 11 members of Seanad Eireann. It has been suggested that one of them be a representative from the diaspora. Kenny himself was proposing three Senate members representing the diaspora just a few years back so it will be interesting to see what happens.
Just one seems like a bit of a back hand to the global Irish economy. None at all would be seen by some as a kick in the transom.
If there is a nomination, and the nominee comes from the U.S. which, after all, is home to the largest number of diaspora members, the question is who would that person be?
There are certainly a few possible contenders, one of them being the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform's Ciaran Staunton.
VISAS PLEASE
Barack Obama might come across as being cool, but the president is clearly wound up pretty tight.
But with Osama Bin Laden out of the way the door has been opened to a far more relaxing visit to Ireland than might have been the case if, say, the Pakistan operation was still pending as Obama touched down in Dublin.
And this has to be seen as an opportunity by those who want to win the president's mind over to ideas such as maintaining the Republic's rock bottom corporate tax rate, and perhaps even whispering in his ear that enhanced legal access for the Irish to America might not be a bad idea in the short run, and the long run too.
It is difficult to imagine that the issue of greater legal access to the U.S. for the Irish will not be raised during the Obama visit if for no other reason that emigration - in this case the departure from Ireland of Obama ancestor Falmouth Kearney - is the primary reason for the visit in the first place.
NOT TIMONEY
Former Philadelphia and Miami top cop John Timoney is not going to Chicago though the Sun Times was tipping him for the job not too long ago. But a former member of the NYPD, where Timoney rose to the second highest rank in the department, will be the new Superintendent under incoming mayor Rahm Emanuel.
McCarthy is a former NYPD deputy commissioner who was at the heart of NYPD operations on 9/11 and in the days that followed. After Newark, even Chicago might seem like a break but McCarthy will have his work cut out. For one thing, he's an outsider in a town that tends to like its top cops home grown.
