Lord John lderdice is to step down as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly at the end of this month. He was due to hand over the Speaker's post once the new Assembly, elected last November, returned and devolution was restored.
In a letter to the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, Mr Alderdice explained that he was retiring because of the increasing demand of his new role in a commission monitoring paramilitary ceasefires and the implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
He was appointed last year by the Irish and British governments to the four-member Independent Monitoring Commission whose role will be to satisfy all sides in Northern Ireland that pledges in the peace process are being honoured.
His fellow commissioners are retired Irish civil servants Mr Joe Brosnan, ex-anti terrorist squad chief Mr John Grieve and a former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the United States Mr Richard Kerr.
Lord Alderdice is a former leader of the cross community Alliance Party.
He was appointed as Speaker in July 1998 by the then Northern Ireland Secretary Ms Mo Mowlam.
PA