The first round in the major reshuffle of ambassadors was approved by the Cabinet in early May. The second round is now taking shape, albeit delayed by Iveagh House's preoccupation with Nice. Quidnunc's sources tell her that Mary Whelan, a key player in our battle for a place on the UN Security Council, will be the new permanent representative at the UN in Geneva; Bernard Davenport moves from Switzerland to the Holy See; Eugene Hutchinson is to be consul general in New York; Michael Hoey goes to Luxembourg, Gerry Corr as deputy at the UN, New York, John Lawton to Switzerland, Martin Burke to Canada, Donal Hamill to Norway, Joe Hayes to Malaysia and Ray Bassett to what was "the bunker" in Belfast but is now more relaxed.
The plum new post of ambassador to Brazil, which will probably be announced when Bertie Ahern visits in July, is expected to go to Martin Green, a Portuguese speaker who previously served in Lisbon. There are a few gaps in the jigsaw which are still being worked on, but the new secretary general, Dermot Gallagher, takes over on July 6th and the new second secretary, Brendan Scannell, will be in place shortly afterwards