The chief executive of the North's prison service, Mr Alan Shannon, is to leave the job later this year to take up another post at the Northern Ireland Office, writes Theresa Judge, in Belfast.
Unionists, angered by an escape and two killings inside the Maze Prison within the past six months, had called for Mr Shannon's resignation on a number of occasions.
The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, rejected such calls but said Mr Shannon would eventually move to another job as was normal for all civil servants.
Mr Shannon was head of the prison service for seven years. He will now become the principal establishment and finance officer at the NIO.
Mr Finlay Spratt, of the Northern Ireland Prison Officers' Association, who has also called for Mr Shannon's resignation, said he believed it was an appropriate time for him to move on.
"Bearing in mind we are moving into a new era, new thinking has got to be given to what is going to happen. It is an appropriate time to give us somebody new with new ideas," he added.