A Belfast Gaelscoil which has been waiting almost 30 years for a permanent home has been told funding for a new school has finally been approved.
Scoil an Droichid was established in 1996 with just a handful of children on the roll.
At the time it was officially opened by then Irish government minister Éamon Ó Cuív.
It now caters for 175 children who are educated in temporary classrooms on a site on the city's Ormeau Road.
It is one of seven new-build primary school projects announced today by DUP Education Minister Paul Givan.
The principal of Scoil an Droichid welcomed the news.
"We've waited a long time to reach this point in our capital build project and are delighted that we've now been approved to progress to construction," Claire Donnelly said.
The new school will be developed on a site in the Ballynafeigh area around 1.6km from its current location.
The provision of Irish language education began in Northern Ireland 50 years ago when parents founded a school in west Belfast and began to fund it.
It is now a recognised sector catering for 7,300 pupils across 84 schools, predominately in the nursery and primary sector.
There are two dedicated post-primary Irish language schools in Northern Ireland, and several others offering Irish streams for pupils.
It comes as fifteen school building projects across Northern Ireland in total have been given the green light to proceed to construction.
Mr Givan announced the new-build, extension and refurbishment schemes that will be funded from his capital budget.
The projects are being paid for from £80 million of additional capital funding allocated to the Department of Education for this financial year. It brings the the department's overall capital budget to £254m.
Seven new-build primary schools will now progress to procurement and construction.
Those are Bangor Central Integrated Primary, Crawfordsburn Primary and Millennium Integrated Primary in Co Down; Edendork Primary School in Co Tyrone; Mary Queen of Peace Primary School in Ballymena, Co Antrim; and Glenwood Primary and Scoil an Droichid in Belfast.
Eight primary and post-primary schools will also receive investment for major extension and refurbishment and new-build construction projects.
They are Abbey Community College in Co Antrim; Carniny Primary School in Co Antrim; Kilronan Special School in Co Derry; Lurgan Model Integrated Primary School in Co Armagh; St John's Primary School at Kingsisland, Coalisland, Co Tyrone; St Malachy's College in Belfast; St Mary's Primary School in Barr, Newry, Co Down; and St Kevin's College in Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh.
Mr Givan made the announcement on a visit to Bangor Central Integrated Primary School, which will receive £10 million for a planned new build.
The integrated school sector was previously set to benefit from ring-fenced capital funding from the UK government in the Fresh Start agreement.
However, that protection was removed when the Government re-profiled the funding as part of the financial package offered for the restoration of Stormont earlier this year.
Mr Givan said he was now advancing the projects at Bangor Central and Millennium integrated primary schools through his conventional major works programme.
"Today's significant announcement will see 15 schools benefiting from new state-of-the-art facilities for young people from Belfast to Ballymena to Enniskillen and beyond," the DUP MLA added.
"The investment will also provide a welcome boost to the construction industry over the next number of years."
The minister said he also planned over coming weeks to launch a series of targeted smaller scale investment programmes to support and enhance the delivery of the curriculum in schools.
"Potential schemes in this area will include specialist curriculum accommodation at post-primary, outdoor play and PE in the primary phase and curriculum resources and equipment more widely," he said.
"It is my priority to ensure the educational experiences of as many children and young people as possible across Northern Ireland are impacted positively by capital investment."
Mr Givan said his overall capital budget was also providing investment for 10 major school build projects that are currently in contract or on site, as well as funding for digital infrastructure across the schools estate.
He said more than £50 million had been earmarked to support special educational needs and highlighted that construction of the flagship Strule Shared Education Campus in Omagh was also progressing.
Additional reporting PA
