The US President Donald Trump has appointed a new Special Envoy for Northern Ireland.

Mick Mulvaney will leave his role as acting Chief of Staff to take up the position, which has been vacant since President Trump came to power.

Mr Mulvaney was appointed Chief of Staff in January 2019; however, his departure from the role is not unexpected.

He found himself at the centre of a storm last October after he appeared to admit that President Trump had been involved in a corrupt deal with Ukraine by saying, “we do that all the time with foreign policy.”

President Trump was accused of withholding aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the country into opening up an investigation into his potential election 2020 rival Joe Biden.

The president was reportedly furious with Mr Mulvaney for the gaff and he later walked back on the comments.

Republican Congressman Mark Meadows will now become Chief of Staff after recently announcing that he was not seeking re-election to the House of Representatives.

The first Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, Senator George Mitchell was appointed in 1995.