New Years Honours List 2026 Northern Ireland

So, the New Year’s Honours List 2026 dropped, and Northern Ireland is absolutely glowing. I mean, we’ve got people getting MBEs for things like running a chip shop that also solves community disputes. It’s brilliant, honestly. Who needs a royal warrant when you’ve got a standing ovation at the local Spar?

Let’s start with the biggest surprise, shall we? A lady from Portadown got an OBE for knitting. Not just any knitting, mind you—she knitted hats for premature babies and sent them to every hospital in the six counties. I half-expected her to get a knighthood for teaching our Grannies how to use Instagram. But no, OBE is the new black.

The usual suspects (but with a twist)

You always get a few civil servants and judges on these lists. Yawn, right? But wait—this year, a postman from Ballymena got an MBE for singing during his rounds. Apparently, he’d whistle the news headlines to old folks who couldn’t read the paper. That’s not a job; that’s a superpower.

And then there’s the paramedic from Derry who, during the big snow of ’25, delivered a baby in a broken-down ambulance while doing the Macarena to keep mum calm. I’m not making this up. The citation actually says “for maintaining morale through interpretive dance.” You can’t buy that kind of honor.

But what about the modest heroes?

My favorite bit? The quiet people. Like the librarian in Armagh who secretly catalogued every local poem about tractors. She got a BEM (British Empire Medal), which sounds tiny but is basically a gold star for nerds. She said, “I just like rhymes about harvests.” We love a humble legend.

Also, a school caretaker from Bangor got an honor for fixing bicycles. He fixed over 2,000 bikes for kids who couldn’t afford repairs. The kids call him “Wrench Wiper.” That’s not his real name, but it should be. He probably won’t wear the medal to work—too much grease.

The controversies (because we’re Irish, after all)

Of course, no Honours List is complete without a tiny row. This year, someone pointed out that a businessman from Enniskillen got an OBE for “services to the economy.” Which is code for: he built a roundabout that connected a McDonald’s to a petrol station. The man’s a hero to late-night drivethrough enthusiasts everywhere. But—and this is a big but—his old company was fined for parking in disabled spaces. Oops.

Still, the Twitter mob had a field day. Someone actually argued that the roundabout saved 17 minutes of traffic per week. That’s 17 minutes more for more fry-ups. I’ll take it.

The celebrity connection (sort of)

We didn’t get a huge pop star or actor this time. But we did get a man from Lisburn who invented a better way to peel potatoes. No, really. He’s an engineer who figured out a machine that peels spuds in zero waste. He got an OBE. People are calling him “The King of Spuds.” I hope he wears a tinfoil crown to the Palace.

And let’s not forget the woman from Belfast who trained pigeons to carry medication to remote farms. She’s a modern-day homing pigeon whisperer. The Queen (or King, whoever’s handing out the gongs now) probably had to google what a pigeon was. “Oh, a sky rat? Give her an MBE.”

The feel-good takeaway

Look, the Honours List can feel a bit old-fashioned, right? Like a dusty uncle wearing a monocle. But Northern Ireland’s 2026 list is full of real people doing weird things. It’s not just fat cats in suits. It’s a postman who sings, a librarian who loves tractor poems, and a potato-peeling genius.

So if you’re reading this and you knitted a scarf for a cat, or you helped a neighbour fix a fence—maybe next year, you could be on the list. Just don’t forget to do a Macarena while you’re at it. You never know who’s watching.

Now, let’s raise a mug of tea (or a Guinness) to the weird, wonderful, and slightly bizarre heroes of the North. Cheers, you absolute beauties.