The Irish language has a long history in east Belfast. Spoken by early settlers, Normans and Gaelic Lords.

Protestants have had a long history with the Irish language in the area. Some of the rectors at St. Mark’s Church of Ireland in Dundela were Irish speakers. A YMCA Gaelic Fellowship was established in the 1940s above a hardware shop on the Albertbridge Road.

The Belfast branch of the Gaelic League was formed in 1895 in a house on the Beersbridge Road. Other branches set up later in Breda, Knock, Ballynafeigh and Bloomfield.

If you look closely, you can still see signs of the Irish language all around. For example, the sign on the old Ulster Bank on the Newtownards Road reads Lamh Dearg Éirinn, the red hand of Ireland. 

Many of today's place names in east Belfast come from Irish. Lisnasharragh is Lios na Searrach, fort of the foals. Ballyhackamore is Baile an Chacamair, townland of the mud flats (alternatively, dung or poo!). If you would like to find out more about the origin of the name of your area, check out http://www.placenamesni.org/ 

Many Irish speakers still lived in east Belfast in the 1900s. Turas has explored some of the roles east Belfast Irish speakers played in the World Wars. 

Naíscoil Mhic Airt was set up in the Short Strand area of east Belfast in 1984 where one of our founding committee members actually attended! It later moved to the Ormeau Road, where it became part of Scoil an Droichid.

Fast forward to 2011, and a cross-community group of women from the East Belfast Mission and the Short Strand Community Centre participated in a six-week Irish language course. One of those women was Linda Ervine. And the Turas project grew from these small acorns.

Turas is Irish for journey. It has become a hub for Irish language and culture in east Belfast. It has been a long-standing dream of Turas to bring integrated Irish-medium education to this part of the city.

Scoil na Seolta is the next step of east Belfast's Irish language journey.