James Alexander Speers (born 20 May 1946), known as Jim Speers, is a Northern Irish farmer and former

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

(UUP) politician, active in

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

Career

Speers works as a businessman and part-time farmer. He was elected to

Armagh City and District Council Armagh City and District Council was a district council in County Armagh in Northern Ireland. It merged with Banbridge District Council and Craigavon Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to beco ...

in 1977 for the

.RE-APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTHERN IRELAND TOURIST BOARD
, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, 2 September 2003 He was an unsuccessful candidate at the

1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly elections were held on 20 October 1982 in an attempt to re-establish devolution and power-sharing in Northern Ireland. Although the Northern Ireland Assembly (1982), Northern Ireland Assembly officially lasted ...

, but was elected to the Assembly the following year in a by-election caused by the disqualification of

Seamus Mallon Seamus Frederick Mallon ( ; 17 August 1936 – 24 January 2020) was an Irish politician who served as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2001 and Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 1979 to ...

, a

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (M ...

(SDLP) member of the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly, who had been a member of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

at the time of his election. The SDLP called on voters to boycott the election, which Speers contested as the UUP candidate. He easily beat the only other candidate, Tom French of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

, and served on the Assembly until it was abolished in 1986. Speers contested Newry and Armagh at the

1992 United Kingdom general election The 1992 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 April 1992, to elect List of MPs elected in the 1992 United Kingdom general election, 651 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The governing Con ...

, and took second place, with 36% of the vote. In 1996, he was elected to the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each List o ...

, as a UUP representative for Newry and Armagh. However, he failed to take a seat at the

1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen House of Commons of the United Kin ...

. Speers later served on the

Northern Ireland Tourist Board Tourism Northern Ireland, also known as Tourism NI, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for the Economy. Its primary objective is to promote Northern Ireland as a tourist destination to domestic tourists, from within Northern Ire ...

, and is the Chairperson of the UUP's Newry & Armagh Constituency Association,About us
, Newry and Armagh Ulster Unionist Constituency Association while continuing to sit on Armagh Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speers, Jim 1946 births Living people Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986 Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Mayors of places in Northern Ireland Members of the Order of the British Empire Members of Armagh City and District Council Ulster Unionist Party councillors