[caption id="attachment_69406" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Ambassador Dan Rooney."]
U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Dan Rooney, is likely to leave his post in Dublin this year, though no firm date has as yet been reported or speculated upon.
Rooney's son Art, in an interview given the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that was primarily to do with the family business, the Pittsburgh Steelers, indicated that his father was readying for a return to the U.S.
"He expects his father, Dan Rooney, to step down as ambassador to Ireland and return to the Steelers organization in some capacity in 2012, although he does not have a specific date," the Post-Gazette story stated.
If this turns out to be the case, it would give President Obama an opportunity to make a high profile ambassadorial appointment to Ireland in an election year. Dan Rooney was a significant fundraising figure in the 2008 Obama White House campaign.
