Former Clerk of Kilkeel Rural District (South

Down) Council

Desmond Egan

Originally from Newcastle, I started work with Kilkeel R.D. Council in 1947 as a Clerical Assistant. I was promoted to Assistant Clerk in 1952 and became Clerk in 1954, and held this post until the reorganisation of local councils in 1973. I was then transferred to the Department of Environment as a Development Officer in the Roads Service, and retired in 1983.

When I started work with Kilkeel R.D. Council, office staff comprised the Clerk and a clerical assistant. Women began to be employed at a later date and were allowed to remain in Council employment after marriage. A part-time rent collector was also employed prior to 1947 but eventually became full-time as Council housing development increased. Later, a second rent collector was also employed. There were also cleaners and “outside” staff. An engineer, solicitor, architect and planner (although the Council did not have any planning functions) were employed on a consultancy basis.

In 1947 Kilkeel R.D. Council staff were based in the old workhouse building in Kilkeel which they shared with staff from Mourne Hospital. The council area included Rostrevor and extended to Maghera, Bryansford, Dundrum and to near Hilltown. The total population of that area around that time was around 14,000.

There was a relationship between the County Council and the R.D. Council with regard to maintenance of unclassified roads. Farming issues were the responsibility of the Ministry (later the Department) of Agriculture. The County Council was also responsible for the collection of rates and the setting of the Regional Rate. The R.D. Council prepared and submitted to the County Council financial estimates and these together with government grants from central government were used to set the District Rate.

The RDC met with the County Surveyor from the County Council twice a year (called the Half Yearly Meeting) at 2.00 pm before the main RDC meeting at 3.00 pm. All business had to be concluded inside one hour.

There were twenty Councillors on Kilkeel R.D. Council, seventeen of which were elected and three were co-opted. The Chairman of the Council was from the majority party and the post of Vice Chairman was shared between parties. In the Urban Council Unionists refused to share the post of Vice Chairman with Nationalists as the voting margins were so narrow. Most of the Councillors were from a farming background. There was one female Councillor, Miss Gibney from Annalong. The R.D. Council met on the second Thursday of each month at 3.00 pm. Meetings could last into the evening. Councillors were not paid but were later given an allowance.

Prior to the abolition of the Board of Guardians in 1948, both Rural and Urban Councillors sat on the Board to administer the Poor Law Rate.

The main functions of the R.D. Council were management of water, sewerage and housing. The County Council looked after the roads and planning.

Council employees were allowed to stay with the Council until old age as were Councillors. John Tinnelly, from Rostrevor, became a Councillor with Kilkeel R.D. Council in 1929 and was still a Councillor in 1973. He went on to be a Councillor with Newry and Mourne District Council for a number of years.

When I joined Kilkeel R.D. Council in 1947, the Council had 222 council or labourers’ cottages. By 1973, the Council had 800 houses under its charge. This necessitated the recruitment of a second rent collector. In 1947 an engineer, Hugh McAleenan, was employed on a part-time consultancy basis. As the workload increased a full-time engineer was recruited, a Mr Finnegan, who had worked with Newry and other local councils. Mr McAleenan continued to be employed part-time.

The name change from Kilkeel Rural District Council to South Down Rural District Council, in 1966, was part of the beginning of the reorganisation of local government by Stormont which culminated in 1973 with fewer and larger councils.

When Kilkeel R.D. Council was dissolved in 1973, all staff were transferred to other posts either in the Civil Service, Newry and Mourne District Council or in Down District Council. Noel Houston who was in charge of Finance in South Down R.D. Council went to Newry and Mourne District Council. The Assistant Clerk, Kevin McKnight from Kilkeel, went to work in the Housing Executive and later moved to Down District Council.