Irish America magazine - April/May '08 issue: Top 100 Irish Americans, The Greening of Silicon Valley, The Chieftains of Endurance, The Mighty Moran Clan, Emotional return to Belfast for Liam, The Maras and the Rooneys, Irish Eye on Hollywood, Music & Book Reviews

Nuala O’Loan, former Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, is set to take up a new role as Ireland’s first Roving Ambassador. Dermot Ahern, Minister for Foreign Affairs, announced that O’Loan would also become special envoy for conflict resolution in East Timor.

Ahern made the announcement on a visit to Dili, capital of the unsettled new island state. “I believe that our assistance in examining how the positive lessons from the Northern Ireland peace process can perhaps be translated into the context of East Timor will be very valuable,” said the minister.

“Mrs. O’Loan’s appointment is the first under the government’s Conflict Resolution Initiative,” he added. “Timor-Leste, one of the youngest nations in the world, and one in which Ireland has had a presence since 2000, has suffered from its share of instability in recent years.”