THE US ambassador to Ireland, Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith, has been censured by the US Secretary of State for allegedly retaliating against two officials who dissented from her decision in January 1994 to recommend a US visa for Mr Gerry Adams.
A letter of reprimand was sent to Mrs Smith by Mr Warren Christopher last week, according to informed sources in Washington.
The reprimand follows a highly critical report drawn up by the US State Department about Mrs Smith's management of the US embassy in Dublin.
Official sources in Washington describe the reprimand as a mild form of censure and say that there is no question of the ambassador leaving her post, to which she was appointed by President Clinton.
The report, by the Department's Inspector General, also comes down on the side of embassy staff who complained that under Mrs Smith the American embassy was "more attuned to Irish than US interests".
It alleges that Mrs Smith, a sister of the late President John F. Kennedy, bent US immigration rules to reduce the number of visa refusals for Irish visitors to the US, thus helping the Republic to qualify for a visa waiver scheme.
The report, a copy of which has been seen by The Irish Times, criticised her management style which it said was "antagonistic to collegial open and professional discourse."
The 26 page "personnel sensitive" report was submitted to Mr Christopher in January after a year long inquiry by a team of four investigators.
It recommends that Mrs Smith be subject to "appropriate disciplinary action". The ambassador, who is in the US, could not be contacted for comment yesterday. The evidence submitted to the inspectors reveals a bitter clash between professional diplomats and a political ambassador in what the report describes as a "troubled US mission".
It began when four officials in the Dublin embassy send a dissent cable to Washington, as is recognised practice, when Mrs Smith came out in favour of the visa for Mr Adams.
Several months later two of the officials, Mr John Treacy and Mr Tom Callahan, separately complained that they had been punished for disagreeing. They claim to have been excluded from embassy functions add made the subject of unfavourable performance reports.
The inquiry team found "a clear pattern of retaliation" by Mrs Smith and her deputy against the two, who have since left the embassy.
A senior official in Washington said yesterday "the irony is that everyone now agrees that it was the right decision to issue a visa waiver to Adams".
Mrs Smith, who is believed to have expressed her desire to continue as ambassador if Mr Clinton is re-elected in November, denied the charges to the inspection team and pointed out that the other two dissenters had made no complaints.