{"id":782835,"date":"2026-02-23T03:27:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/782835\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T03:27:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:27:41","slug":"sdlp-leader-claire-hanna-attends-event-honouring-orange-lodge-figures-royal-honour-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/782835\/","title":{"rendered":"SDLP leader Claire Hanna attends event honouring Orange lodge figure\u2019s royal honour \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

SDLP<\/a> leader Claire Hanna has attended an event at an Orange Hall in south Belfast to mark one of its members\u2019 awarding of an MBE.<\/p>\n

The South Belfast and Mid Down MP was pictured at the event at Ballynafeigh Orange Hall on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The event was held by the local lodge to celebrate the awarding of an MBE to long-time lodge member Noel Liggett.<\/p>\n

Mr Liggett was awarded the title as part of the King\u2019s New Year\u2019s Honours list for \u201cdemonstrating outstanding determination, tenacity, and drive in promoting good relations and community cohesion in south Belfast for 30 years as District Master of the Number 10 District Lodge\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"SDLP<\/a>\"Three<\/a><\/p>\n

Among the achievements cited as part of the honour for the Orangeman was a 2018 cultural exchange between Ballynafeigh Orange Lodge and Bredagh GAC, which was described as \u201ca model for peaceful co-existence in south Belfast\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Hanna attended the event on Saturday alongside Belfast Lord Mayor Tracy Kelly of the DUP and senior figures from the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland.<\/p>\n

The SDLP leader had been invited to the event after writing a letter in support of Mr Liggett\u2019s application for the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cClaire Hanna was approached as the MP of our area seeking support for Noel\u2019s application to the honours systems,\u201d Ballynafeigh Orange Hall commented in a post on social media. <\/p>\n

\u201cMs Hanna wrote a very supportive and factual letter of support for Noel. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs such, every person who wrote letters of support, Ms Hanna was invited to attend our celebration of Noel\u2019s achievement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst our political views may not align, yesterday the entire room of 50 plus people were in unison for their appreciation of Noel\u2019s 30+ years service to our Loyal Orders and the wider Ormeau Road community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBallynafeigh Orange Lodge is a long established civic institution in my constituency and as the MP I was very glad to accept their invitation to afternoon tea on Saturday,\u201d Ms Hanna told The Irish News.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was marking an honour received, in part, for contribution to good community relations and engagement with sports and other local clubs in the neighbourhood. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy politics and those of the SDLP are proudly about engagement and respect for a wide range of identities. South Belfast is a shared community and I am honoured to represent it and the many traditions that make it what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SDLP leader Claire Hanna has attended an event at an Orange Hall in south Belfast to mark one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,6413,925,133077,16,15],"class_list":["post-782835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-northern-ireland","tag-orange-order","tag-sdlp","tag-south-belfast","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116117821985026500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}