One of Northern Ireland’s longest serving councillors has used his retirement speech to call for Stormont to be scrapped and its powers be given to local authorities.
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) UUP Alderman Jim Dillon MBE has stepped down after 46 years in chambers with his last full council meeting this week.
The former Mayor and Freeman of the council paid tribute to his council colleagues and reflected on his career highlight of playing a key role when the late Queen Elizabeth II opened the local authority’s HQ at Lagan Valley Island.
Read more: Former Lisburn Mayor recalls Queen's visits to city and offers advice to new King.
Downshire West rep, Jim Dillon taking to his feet for the last time, said: “Believe it or not, when I first stood for council, they (UUP) had to have five selection meetings to select a candidate in the area which included my home town of Moira.
“Well, they could get candidates, but they didn’t want them. I was asked at five different meetings if I would stand and I said, ‘no’.
“At the fifth meeting, against my wife’s better judgement, as I very nearly got a divorce out of it, I said I would do a four year term, and by then you could have yourselves sorted out.
“I had two main reasons for not wanting to stand for election. One I was a busy humble farmer trying to make a living and two, I thought I would be greatly out of my depth.
“But whenever I had four years served I didn’t feel out of my depth, because I felt that we had a bunch of bluffers on the council.”
The Moira farmer who was recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his service to local government at the 2018 NILGA Local Government Awards, played a central part in the generation of the council headquarters at Lagan Valley Island.
And in 2001, as Mayor, Jim Dillon welcomed Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to officially open the local authority building.
He added: “I would like to thank all on this council who have shown me courtesy over the years and the advice they gave, which I took.
“I am leaving after 46 years, it has been a pleasure to have been here for all those years. There are a number of highlights of my time, but the main one was the opening of this building (Lagan Valley Island) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a day I will never forget.
“The other main highlight was my own Freeman ceremony and I thanked the council then as I do now for bestowing the high honour on me as I feel I will still have a foot in the door of this Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council. And believe you me I will have a foot in the door.”
However, as he concluded his retirement speech, Alderman Dillon fired a political broadside at the collapsed Stormont institution, which he felt should now remain closed.
Alderman Dillon said: “I have served under five different chief executives, all top class people in different ways. I have a few regrets, perhaps the biggest of the whole lot is that we don’t have functioning devolution in this country.
“Indeed after the headline in the News Letter paper, ‘Stormont slammed on value for money’. Obviously the Auditor General has come out with a scathing report to say it is not value for money, so why would I want it going again?
“I do want it going again, but I want it going again properly and in my opinion it is not going to go properly because there is too much petty politics in that organisation.
“What was mooted some 16, 18 years ago was a reform of local government that one or two county councils would be formed and they could run the affairs of 1.5m people and they obviously could.
“But what I think perhaps should happen now is that the NI assembly should be closed down and the 11 councils should be given their Executive and functioning powers.
“And perhaps we would get a working arrangement that would work, because there are councils that are controlled by unionists and they would run them in their way and they could fight among themselves.
“There are councils that are controlled by nationalists, republicans and they could fight among themselves and run them their way.
“But overall the Province in my opinion would be a much better place and run in a much more democratic way than what we have at the present time.”
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