SDLP South Down MP Eddie McGrady has decided not to put his name forward for candidacy in the upcoming Assembly elections.
The veteran MP, who last year stood down as the SDLP's Assembly Chief Whip, is the latest in a series of senior figures in the party to announce their retirement from the Assembly benches.
Former deputy leader and Newry and Armagh MP Seamus Mallon and former agriculture minister Bríd Rodgers will not be contesting the election on May 1st.
Mr McGrady has been the MP for South Down since 1987, when he unseated the Ulster Unionists' Enoch Powell.
He is a former chairman of the party and served in the Northern Ireland Executive in 1974.
In the 1998 Assembly elections, he topped the poll with 10,373 first preference votes and was elected alongside two colleagues, PJ Bradley and Eamonn O'Neill.
PA
