14 Facts About Carmel Hanna

Carmel Hanna is a member of the SDLP and was MLA for South Belfast from 1998 to 2010.

Carmel Hanna came to Belfast in 1964 to train as a nurse at Belfast City Hospital and qualified there as Registered Nurse in 1967 and later in 1970 at the Royal Maternity Hospital as a State Certified Midwife.

Carmel Hanna worked in hospitals in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and mainland Europe.

Carmel Hanna was active in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Campaign of the early 1970s.

Carmel Hanna became an officer for her trade union, NIPSA.

Carmel Hanna first joined the SDLP in 1972 and was an ordinary member for many years as well as being secretary and committee member of the Galway and Dublin SDLP support groups.

Carmel Hanna became chairperson of her local branch in 1996, in which year she was an SDLP candidate in a Belfast City Council by election and Northern Ireland Forum elections.

Carmel Hanna was elected to Belfast City Council for the Balmoral area in 1997.

Carmel Hanna was elected to Northern Ireland Assembly in June 1998.

Carmel Hanna was Deputy Chair of the Environment Committee in the Northern Ireland Assembly until December 2001.

Carmel Hanna was appointed as Minister of Employment and Learning in December 2001.

Carmel Hanna was founder and chair of the All-Party Group on International Development in the Assembly and, following her resignation from the Assembly in 2010, she worked with Voluntary Service Overseas in Namibia.

Carmel Hanna received a Lifetime Achievement award in 2010 from the Royal College of Nursing Northern Ireland for her services to nursing; for many years she was the only serving registered nurse in the Assembly.

Carmel Hanna is the mother of Claire Hanna, who was elected as an SDLP Belfast City councillor for Balmoral in 2011 and served as an SDLP MLA for Belfast South from 2015 to 2019, when she was elected to represent Belfast South in parliament in Westminster.