East Belfast gets first integrated Irish-language pre-school

Funding has been confirmed to enable the first integrated Irish-language pre-school in east Belfast to open in September.

Naíscoil na Seolta has received £73,000 from Foras na Gaeilge, the North-South body for the promotion of Irish language.

The funding will enable the nursery to open for 16 children with two members of staff.

However, a venue for the pre-school has not yet been confirmed.

Foras na Gaeilge was set up following the Good Friday Agreement.

The nursery is planned as another step to the first Irish-medium primary school in the east of the city.

The Irish-language teacher Linda Ervine, and the language organisation Turas, are among those behind the school.

Turas has been running Irish classes for adults in the Skainos centre in east Belfast for a number of years.

The pre-school is also supported by the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) and the Irish-medium schools organisation Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (CnG).

There are now more than 7,000 pupils in Irish-medium education in Northern Ireland.

About 5,500 are in dedicated Irish-medium schools and pre-schools and about 1,500 are in Irish medium units attached to English-medium schools.

The only Irish-medium school in south Belfast, Scoil an Droichid, is waiting for a move to a new, bigger, school building.

In a statement, the chair of Naíscoil na Seolta, Dr Annelies Taylor, said that the funding would enable "the dream of introducing Irish-medium education in east Belfast to become a reality".

"This is an exciting time for the children and their parents, who will have the opportunity to learn together, grow together and carve out a new path of integration together - step by step, word by word, hand in hand," she said.

Dr Taylor also said that children born between 2 July 2018 and 1 July 2019 would be the first to be admitted to the new school, and that where it will be sited would soon be revealed.