THE acquisition and redevelopment of an annex building near An Chultúrlann will pave the way for Belfast's first Irish medium further and higher education institution, a local educator has said.
Colma Nic Sheáin, Director of the training and employment initiative Gaelchursaí, said the purchase of the Montague Building will allow them to offer more educational opportunities than ever before.
The Department for Communities provided Falls Road-based Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich £180k funding to purchase the facility in March 2021. The building, which is within the Cultúrlann complex, was bought from the Springfield Charitable Association (SCA).
On Thursday, Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey visited the Irish language and cultural centre to view progress on the redevelopment of the building.
Speaking to the Andersonstown News, Ms Nic Sheáin expressed hope that Gaelchursaí will move in "any month now".
"The structure of the building is good, and we've been given the money to kit it out," she said.
"My hope is that this will be the Irish language Tech (technical college), something we've been hoping would happen for a long time.
"It is a natural place for it because you have all the schools surrounding it.
"This is naturally the next step. The young ones in the Irish medium schools come from different backgrounds. Some of them will want to go on to university, some of them will want to go to tech, some of them will want to do vocational subjects or trades, but that's not catered for at the minute for the Irish medium sector.
"We have money to kit out a beauty room, a hairdressing room, a catering training kitchen, and a multimedia room."
She added: "This will give us the opportunity to providing those courses, so this is a huge step."
