IRISH-AMERICAN FORMER US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power has been nominated by Joe Biden to lead the country’s foreign aid agency. 

Power is a former journalist who was appointed to the US National Security Council under President Barack Obama before serving as UN ambassador from 2013 to 2017.

In a statement today, President-elect Biden has confirmed that Power is to lead the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 

The independent agency coordinates foreign aid deployment from the US federal budget and operates in over 100 countries worldwide.  

“Samantha Power is a world-renowned voice of conscience and moral clarity — challenging and rallying the international community to stand up for the dignity and humanity of all people,” Biden said today in a statement. 

Born in Dublin, Power moving to the US as a child and has returned to Ireland on many occasions in recent years to speak about her work. 

After Trump’s election, Power became Anna Lindh Professor of the practice of global leadership and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the William D Zabel Professor of practice in human rights at Harvard Law School.

Biden’s nomination of Power to a senior position follows the nomination Irish-American Marty Walsh to the position of Labour secretary in the new administration. 

Introducing Walsh at a press conference in Delaware last week, Biden joked that the only downside of nominating his “good friend” was that his parents were “not from Mayo, they’re from Galway”.