Southern walker not a clever type in Ireland (6)

I believe the answer is:

spacer

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'not a clever type in ireland' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'southern walker' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'walker' becomes 'pacer' (I've seen this before).
's'+'pacer'='SPACER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for spacer that I've seen before include "Something keeping apart" , "one creates gap" , "One may prevent physical contact" , "One keeping apart" , "One preserving gap" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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