By Lesley Walsh
IT’S been a circuitous journey to politics for the newest member of Ards and North Down Council, but when the ‘stars aligned’ for Tom Brady, he eventually landed in the place he believes he was destined for.
The 32 year-old has been co-opted into the space left by former Independent councillor Ray McKimm, who retired to care for his husband, and who said Brady was top of the list to follow in his footsteps.
Tom had begun plotting a career in the sciences, but found himself drawn to journalism, before life’s unexpected diversions eventually placed him on the route to the local council chamber.
Now revelling in his new position in the Bangor Central ward, Tom said his door is always ‘metaphorically open’ in his endeavour to ‘make Bangor a place that works for everyone’.
Born in Belfast, Tom lived in Holywood while attending Sullivan Upper School, and first dabbled in chemistry and chemical engineering before finding his feet on firmer ground with an economics degree.
Journalism then called to him as a profession and with his eye on an outlet like the Financial Times, where he could marry his economic studies with his love of the written word, the studies he hoped would take him to London were disrupted by Covid for a time.
But it was his father’s diagnosis of a brain tumour that brought him home.
That tragic turn of events was to prove key to his future, when it was to Ray McKimm that he turned for counselling through those difficult days.
But before politics was to become his daily bread, he spent two years reporting local radio news when he discovered just how ‘married to the truth’ he was, ‘whether it’s unpalatable or not’.
Tom explains how his sympathies for Gaza put him at odds with reporting practices and he found himself jobless and disillusioned. That led him to ponder again what his next move might be, and before long a political path came into view.
“I got into politics because of my predecessor, Ray McKimm,” he said.
He revealed how well he and Ray had gelled during the counselling and with the Independent councillor evidently seeing something in the young man, Tom tells how happenstance shaped his present.
“Basically he asked me that when he retired, which he expected would be in a couple of years, if I would be interested in taking over. I thought that was an interesting thought. And then two months later he rang me and said circumstances had changed; he had to retire as his partner was ill.
“Ray basically said to me ‘I’ve drawn up a list of names and I have crossed every name off but yours’. I was not expecting that but it’s one of those things.
“From Ray’s perspective he said the best leaders are often those who are reluctantly called to it and from my perspective it was something that kind of made me uncomfortable and so it’s probably something I should do
“But now I’m in the role I’m loving it; I’m really enjoying it. I think it’s perfect for me – it suits me really well.”
