Munster Rugby chief executive Ian Flanagan has confirmed he will resign from his position at the end of the month.
Flanagan's position has been under scrutiny in recent months after a number of controversies in the organisation, leading to calls for "change" at the top of Munster Rugby from a number of former players.
"Munster Rugby and the IRFU today confirm that Ian Flanagan has informed the Board of Munster Rugby of his decision to step down from his position as CEO at the end of October," a statement from the province said.
"An Interim CEO will be announced in the coming weeks and a recruitment process for a permanent successor will be undertaken in due course."
Flanagan's resignation arrives just over four months since Munster commissioned an independent review into the governance of their organisation after a damaging period for the province off the pitch, the findings of which have yet to be made public.
In March, the province confirmed they would be seeking a number of voluntary redundancies, before further controversy followed in April, with the decision to appoint Roger Randle as attack coach.
Randle's appointment drew backlash from a large section of Munster supporters, and led to the resignations of three former players from their professional games board, Billy Holland, Mick O'Driscoll and Killian Keane.
Munster and Randle eventually agreed to a mutual termination of the appointment, with the CEO telling the Irish Examiner that he took "full responsibility" for the initial decision to hire him.
That controversy put huge pressure on Flanagan's position, as well as that of general manager Ian Costello, particularly after head coach Clayton McMillan suggested he needed reassurances from those running Munster Rugby that everyone was "heading in the same direction".
Flanagan appeared to have weathered that publicity storm, but comments from several ex-Munster players in the last week had put his job under further scrutiny.
Former players Johne Murphy and Ian Keatley both called for change at the top of Munster Rugby on the RTÉ Rugby podcast, while the most notable call came from former Munster and Ireland captain Peter O'Mahony, who was scathing in his assessment of how the province has been governed since the departure of former CEO Garrett Fitzgerald.
While reports on Thursday suggested that Costello would also be stepping down from his role as general manager along with Flanagan, RTÉ Sport understands that is not currently the case.
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