Well he is only human there are very few opportunities during the year for him to take time off. I suspect that once the candidates have been identified contract negotiations will be in the hands of Mark Jenkins and Richard Garlick. It is perfectly possible for us to appoint a manager while Dan is on holiday.
The thing is though Ashworth is the one that will be directly working with the new manager more so than those two and Peace.
The only thing I can think of is that Ashworth has identified the man, met him and established that the two can work together and that the final negotiations will be concluded by those two you mention.
Although if those negotiations fail - then what? Is there a list of 3 or 4 that Ashworth has found and 'ok'ed?