IRISH Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who has come under growing pressure over alleged financial irregularities, announced yesterday that he would stand down May 6.

The 56-year-old, re-elected for a record third term last year after overseeing a decade-long economic boom, denied any wrongdoing but said he did not want the charges to distract the focus of government.

Ahern has come under increasing pressure as a result of revelations at a three-judge Mahon Tribunal investigating planning corruption and payments to politicians. The tribunal, which has been sitting since 1997, is investigating an allegation that Ahern received payments from a property developer between 1989 and 1992.

With former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ahern helped steer British-ruled Northern Ireland from decades of violence to the peace process, the landmark 1997 Good Friday agreement and the setting up of a cross-community power-sharing administration in Belfast.(SD-Agencies)