By IRNA
London : Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern announced he is to resign in May after being in office for 11 years, winning three successive general elections.
The sudden announcement, made at a press conference in Dublin, comes as Ahern has been subjected to a public inquiry for nearly a year probing his personal finances.
He admitted that his involvement with the so-called Mahon Tribunal was overshadowing the work of his government and said he would resign on May 6, shortly after he gives his historic address to the US Congress.
The announcement comes a day after the prime minister began a court challenge to limit the work of the inquiry probing planning corruption payments in the 1990s.
Ahern, 56, has been prime minister since June 1997 and has been a member of the Irish Parliament for 31 years. He is remembered for his role in the negotiations leading up to Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
In his resignation speech, he said the peace deal “provides the political framework for the island to meet its full political potential.”