US Ambassador to Ireland: Ancestral relations have been diluted — trade is glue that holds us 

Claire Cronin enhanced her no-nonsense, get-it-done reputation before becoming President Joe Biden's pick as US Ambassador to Ireland. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

As the first female majority leader of the sometimes rowdy Massachusetts state legislature, Claire Cronin enhanced her no-nonsense, get-it-done reputation before becoming President Joe Biden's pick as US Ambassador to Ireland.

A fierce advocate for mental health and substance abuse protections, domestic violence and child abuse survivors, and military veterans - her father was a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack in World War II - Ms Cronin bolstered her reputation in politics before making her way to Deerfield Residence in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.