A £15.5 million building project has begun at Belfast's only Irish language secondary school.

Education minister John O'Dowd cut the first sod on a new extension at Coláiste Feirste in west Belfast.

The project will provide new teaching facilities as well as a sports hall, changing rooms, a gym, synthetic training area, 3G Gaelic Pitch and five courts.

Seán Mistéil, chairman of Coláiste Feirste said the building work was a milestone in the development of the school and Irish-medium education in the north.

"This is not just an a major capital investment, it is an investment in the potential of the 600 pupils currently attending the school and the thousands who will continue their educational journey in Coláiste Feirste in the coming years," he said.

"The physical regeneration of Coláiste Feirste will match the excellent progress made by the school in recent years in terms of academic, sporting and cultural achievements. We will have an environment that is fit for purpose and which matches the ambition of the school and wider community.

"And it is also another building block in the Gaeltacht Quarter which is set to make this area an exemplar across the island and across Europe in terms of community-led and community-centered regeneration."