There has been mixed reaction in the North to the resignation announcement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews.
Nationalists and moderate unionists paid tribute to his role in the peace process, but hard-line unionists said they were "glad to see him go". The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, praised Mr Andrews, saying he had done "outstanding work" as the Republic's Foreign Minister.
"David had a particular interest because he had family roots in the North," Mr Hume told BBC Radio Ulster. "As Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Northern situation was always at the top of his agenda and we owe him a deep debt of gratitude," he added.
The First Minister and UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, said his party would, in its own particular way, miss Mr Andrews's presence. "It will be a little strange not to see David Andrews there at future negotiations and we will, in our own particular way, miss him from the scene," he told the BBC's Inside Politics programme. While the UUP had not always seen eye to eye with Mr Andrews and his Department, their relationship was not as strained as widely reported in the media, Mr Trimble added. The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, paid tribute to Mr Andrews, thanking him for his "substantial contribution" to the search for a lasting peace.
The leader of the DUP, the Rev Ian Paisley, said: "Mr Andrews was the man who told me that Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution was the best work that de Valera ever did and he was always totally and absolutely opposed to the unionist people. He was Enemy Number One of Northern Ireland and it's just a pity he didn't take the rest of the boys with him."