Conservatives select Lagan '¨Valley Assembly candidate

Mr Irwin has said: “The people of Lagan Valley deserve an alternative to the current Stormont Establishment, which in 2011 represented every sitting MLA.

“They have failed on health, education and the economy generally and now they request permission to do it again.

“If elected I will lobby for a low welfare, high wage economy so as to reward, not punish, the hard-working families of Northern Ireland.”

Jack Irwin was born and bred in Belfast, where he was a pupil at Belfast Royal Academy, subsequently studying Law at Queens University Belfast and being admitted as a Solicitor in Northern Ireland in 1978 and in The Republic of Ireland in 2001.

He said: “I am extremely keen to represent the people in Lagan Valley at Stormont, in order to address the shortcomings in governance we are faced with.

“We need our economy to be as successful as it should be to ensure a functional health service and a properly resourced PSNI.”