Michael George, a Wall Street businessman and native of Belfast, is considered a strong favorite for the post of Ambassador to Ireland the Sunday Independent reports.

He has been described as a "strong supporter from day one" of Donald Trump and a "very close friend" of the US president-elect's son Donald Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Belfast-born Michael George came to the USA in the late 1980s and has become a highly successful private equity chief. Prior to joining Fortress in October 2009, he  spent 10 years as a managing director at Deutsche Bank in New York. Previous to  that, he spent 13 years at Lehman Brothers in New York and London where he started his career.

George is a Cambridge University graduate and an American citizen since the 1990s. He completed his MA in economics and post-graduate diploma in computer science from Cambridge University.

In 2014, his company Fortress Capital sought to become involved in a major Irish investment called Project Eagle which involved buying the Northern Ireland loan book of NAMA the organization set up by the government to dispose of all the bankrupt's estate holdings in the wake of the Celtic Tiger clash.

Project Eagle has since become very controversial but George’s company has nothing to do with it as their attempt to bid on the loan book was refused.

He is married with three children and living in New York, George is said to be a passionate follower of Irish rugby and to take a keen interest in Irish affairs. The Sunday Independent noted that in 2012 he hosted the launch of a finance internship for Queen's University Belfast students in his Manhattan home.

The event saw the unveiling of a portrait of Senator George Mitchell, former special advisor to US president Bill Clinton on Ireland.