Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has announced he is to resign in May.
Mr Ahern, 56, has been taoiseach since June 1997 and has been a member of the Irish Parliament for 31 years.
The announcement comes a day after Mr Ahern began a court challenge to limit the work of a public inquiry probing planning corruption in the 1990s.
The tribunal is probing Mr Ahern's personal finances. Mr Ahern has been leader of Fianna Fáil since 1994 and heads the coalition government.
Mr Ahern has been the most successful politician in the Republic of Ireland since Eamon De Valera, winning three elections. He is Ireland's second longest serving taoiseach.
He will be remembered for his role in the negotiations leading up to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
When the talks at Stormont were in their crucial final stages, he returned from his mother's funeral to rejoin the negotiations.
Speaking as he announced his resignation at a news conference in Dublin, Mr Ahern said: "The Good Friday Agreement now provides the political framework for the island to meet its full political potential."