Neil Ireland has been the man behind Ireland Honda for the last 30 years. He has built one of the most successful Honda franchises in the country winning a number of Honda awards but more importantly, he has built a remarkable reputation in our community built on trust and great customer service.

This Wednesday, June 30 Neil will be closing the doors of Ireland Honda for the last time. Humans of Lismore Denise Alison spoke to Neil about his life in Lismore.

“I was born in Lismore Base Hospital so I’m a Lismore boy. I went to Lismore Heights public till second class, then Goonellabah Public and lastly Kadina High School. No tertiary education for me! I’m a car salesman (laughs). I did my HSC and I’d always wanted to join the business.

Mum and Dad started the business on the Ireland Honda site we are on now. My parents were here since the 1950s. My grandfather Jack on my Mum’s side had an auto electrician business here. Back in those days, everything was repaired. He used to rewind alternators and that sort of thing for trucks and cars. There are still a few chaps around who worked with Jack when they were young, who still have those skills.

Mum and Dad married when Dad was working for E.J. Eggins selling tractors. In those days it was just Ferguson before they became Massey Ferguson. Dad used to do the run-up to New England. He would drive the tractor up to Armidale and those areas selling them to the cockies on the way. It was a dirt road back then too. 

Mum and Dad met when the Queen was visiting Lismore.

Dad spotted Mum outside The Gollan when everyone was there to see the Queen. He followed her home on his pushbike, which was not stalky at all. In the ’50s, that was romantic I think (laughs).

My Grandfather on Dad’s side passed away very young but I think there was some parental hesitation about their relationship, not sure whether it was Catholic, Protestant based but I think that had something to do with it. They married pretty much after he kicked the bucket and the rest is history. 

Dad then came to work for Jack for a few years and learnt the trade. Dad was always a voracious reader and all his children inherited that. Back in those days, it was news.

He’d heard about this company making waves overseas called Honda. Back then it was mostly motorcycles. He found a business in Sydney that was just starting to import them, mainly for Posties. This was the late 60’s. Horses and carts were going out and Cockies started using motorcycles to round up cows and that sort of thing.

At that time we had a huge dairy industry and they all had a Honda Ag bike. That’s how we started.

Moving forward was Bennet Honda who became the official distributor for Honda Motorcycles. I remember one of our reps at that time was Steve Rogers, quite a famous footballer. I always remember as a young bloke, Steve coming up to visit us and bringing me football jerseys. 

After 10 or so years Honda decided to come into the country officially. They started in Melbourne and Australia was their first International office. Cars started to come in then which were really small and reliable and developed this reputation for being a big car in a little package then along came the Civic and the Accord and it went on from there. 

My grandfather retired and my parents took over the business.

In the late 80’s we went away from the motorcycle side of the business and at that time Dad had a couple of different shops. Bob Falls was one of the names a few people might remember. They sold Malvern Star pushbikes. Bob was a local chap who had come over from America and started the business. Dad had bought it off him together with Kenny Brown. They had the business for many years in Keen St.

We moved that business which is now Lismore Motorcycles to its current location in Three Chain Rd. On this site here we sold Honda, Suzuki, Ducati and a whole myriad of motorcycles which was the best environment to grow up in as a boy. We ended up going purely with cars in the late ’80s which is when I started to get involved. 

I finished school in 1989, had a year off then I came into the business in 1991.

In 1990 I met Kay and we began making casual workers for Greig Shanley at Fundies basically (laughs). We had 3 girls and I met Greig when our youngest Neive started pre-school. All our girls have worked part-time during school at Fundies.

I remember turning up to my first day of work. I was so chuffed because I was going to sell cars which is all I ever wanted to do, Yes, I know it’s ridiculous. I turned up in a shirt and tie and Dad walked out with a bucket and sponge and said, there’s the cars! That was deflating but he said the best way to learn all about a car is to clean it which was entirely true. So I spent the next 31 years cleaning cars basically.

Dad retired in 1998 and left the business. He was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. Mum was and still is the backbone of the business. She was the matriarch but retired now. She stayed on till just a few years ago. Dad gave it 30 years and I’m 30 years now too. I came in October '98 and Dad wasn’t in. I rang him and said, where are you? He said I’m not coming in. I said that’s fine, you’re the boss and he said, never again. He said the company can only have one boss mate so it’s yours. He never set foot in the place ever again. 

So I had my 3 beautiful daughters over that time and about to be a grandad in August. Two of my girls are still local. Alex moved to Melbourne and she still works in Childcare running a couple of centres. Neive, my youngest, is in her second year of Nursing and believe it or not just recently started doing a shift or 2 at Fundies again. Caitlin my eldest is having a baby. She finished her Law degree at SCU and works for Envite. Caitlin and her husband have a house here locally so they’ve stayed on.

I’ll probably stay in Lismore. I spend a bit of time now looking after Mum and Dad which I’m lucky to be able to do. 

When I was young it was every kid's dream to get to the big smoke in Sydney or Brisbane and so many of them have come back now. It’s a great place to raise your kids and it’s a fabulous lifestyle. Lismore has given me everything I’ve ever had. I have to thank Lismore for that. It takes a bit of a knocking, our poor old Lismore, but I have no problem with that. Keep spreading the news that Lismore’s a hole and hopefully no one else will come here. We all know how great it is, so many great relationships I’ve built over the years. Lismore has the best heart. I’ve been through all the major floods and the town pulls together. I remember the ’74 flood and we saw a desk floating down the street. We still have it. If you turn it upside-down it has ‘property of Lismore courthouse’ written on it. There’s lots of flood stories. 

After 30 years of selling and servicing cars, we close the doors on Wednesday. I’ll tidy up things here. I have a bit of property just out of Lismore with my parents close by. As we know it, Ireland Honda is finishing. Our service team are going to open an independent repair shop. One of our lovely staff Karen will be staying on with them. They will be on the back half of this site. One of the things that set our business apart was the service we offered. Not sure what will happen with the front half. It's a fantastic site. 

We’ve been incredibly lucky with the wonderful staff we’ve had over the years.

In 30 years I’ve had 6 salesmen work for us including one that’s still here. Anthony has been here 17 years. Robyn our GM has been here since 1978 when she was 15. Our parts manager has been here 15 years. All the workshop boys, we can't count the years. That’s what I’ll miss the most. They are family.

Also, so many great customers who’ve become great friends. You spend more time with people you work with so I’ll have the hardest time adjusting to not seeing them every day. I’ll probably be making Anzac biscuits and popping in every 5 minutes. They won’t have it. They’ll kick me out.”