A former SDLP MLA who lost his seat last year is to stand in May's council election.
Pat Catney confirmed he plans to seek election to Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council.
The 68-year-old was previously a councillor from 2011 until 2017 when he was elected to Stormont for the Lagan Valley constituency.
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He lost his Assembly seat in last year's election to the Alliance Party.
Mr Catney said he "didn't take it very easy" losing out last May, but he has kept busy since then and wants to continue contributing to his local community.
He said: "My reasons are just to make the place where we live a better place. Maybe that sounds old fashioned.
"I think there is a need for the type of politics that the SDLP brings. I think it's honest, it's fair. We will see whether people want to buy into that."
He added: "It's a case of going in and setting out your targets and try to progress that to make this place better."
Mr Catney successfully brought forward legislation to the Assembly before its collapse last year to make period products freely available in schools, colleges and public buildings.
The former publican previously represented the Killultagh area on Lisburn and Castlereagh council until his election to the Assembly in March 2017.
Mr Catney said he "absolutely loves" the community he lives in and believes his life experience would be useful on his local council.
"I have had a lifetime of running a pub in Belfast. I believe the skills that you learn in that are transferable," he said.
"The biggest challenge is our economy and getting these well-paid jobs for our young people coming through."
Mr Catney's candidacy follows a number of other former MLAs being co-opted to councils in Northern Ireland since the Assembly election last May.
Last November, former Ulster Unionist MLA Rosemary Barton was selected to replace a retiring councillor in Co Tyrone.
And last August, former DUP MLA Mervyn Storey was co-opted by the party to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.
Mr Storey, who lost his North Antrim seat in May's Assembly election, succeeded John Finlay as a councillor for Ballymoney after his death following a cancer diagnosis.
In May, DUP deputy leader Paula Bradley was selected as a councillor for the party after not seeking re-election to Stormont to spend more time caring for her elderly parents.
The former North Belfast MLA was co-opted to Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council to replace Phillip Brett, who succeeded her as an Assembly member.
The next council election is due to take place on May 18 after the date was delayed to avoid the counting of votes clashing with the coronation of King Charles III on May 6.
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