€9m plan for phone pouches in schools 'a scandalous waste of public money'
Are Td Pay Classroom Democrats Basic The For Country Or Saying Gannon That Also Criticised Has Bills Pouches, To Materials Schools Struggling The Phone Social Around Gary
Spending public money on pouches for mobile phones in schools is "scandalous", the Sinn Féin leader has said.
Two days after it was announced that €9m had been allocated to purchase pouches for students to put their phones in during the school day, Mary Lou McDonald has called on the Government to reverse the decision.
She wrote to Taoiseach Simon Harris on Thursday to insist on the "immediate withdrawal" of his budgetary proposal to spend public money on the pouches.
"This is a scandalous waste of public money, at a time when so many schools are struggling to pay for heating and to keep the lights on," Ms McDonald said.
"The lack of proper funding puts a huge burden on parents and teachers to pay so-called voluntary contributions and to constantly fundraise the resources needed."
The move is a "wilful disregard" for the struggles facing schools, teachers and parents, she added.
The budgetary measure comes on the back of a number of scandals around government spending including the overruns in relation to the National Children's Hospital, the bike shed which cost €336,000 and the €1.4m security hut at government buildings.
Ms McDonald said the phone pouches are the "latest squandering of taxpayers' money" and the €9m would be better spent addressing the significant need for additional resources in schools.
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon has also criticised the phone pouches saying that schools around the country are struggling to pay bills or for basic classroom materials.
There are schools that are being forced to limit the number of subjects they can teach or take special education teachers away from their core roles to fill staffing gaps, he said.
"Yet again, we see the Minister for Education’s pet project taking precedence over more pressing matters, such as the teacher recruitment crisis," Mr Gannon said.
“While a ban on mobile phones in schools sounds good in principle, it should not be this Government’s priority when it comes to fixing our education system.”
There was also criticism of the €9m phone pouches plan in the Dáil on Thursday, with Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty describing it as a “vanity project”.
“If you want to ban mobile phones, tell the kids to leave them in their pockets. Don’t be spending €9m on pouches, it makes no sense at a time when schools are struggling, when mental health is struggling,” Mr Doherty said.
“Do you seriously think that any child who is self-harming at this point in time and who can’t get the support through the mental health services — where they are underfunded right across the State — that the priority for those parents is a phone pouch?
“You are living in cloud cuckoo land if you genuinely believe this.”
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns described it as a “pet project”.
“We can all agree on the need to prioritise mental health and children’s mental health, but to prioritise phone pouches with regard to that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to most people,” she said.
“€9m on a pet project that schools weren’t crying out for. It’s a lot of money, and it could have done some real good.
“That €9m could have been used to invest in special schools. There isn’t a single special school, for example, in my own constituency in Cork South West.
“It could have been used to fund therapists in St Killian’s Special School in Mayfield, who were promised supports from Minister (Anne) Rabbitte that never materialised.
“There have been no occupational therapists, speech and language therapists or behavioural therapists in that special school or any other since 2020 when you entered government.”
In response, Finance Minister Jack Chambers hit back at Mr Doherty and said that the Sinn Féin opposition to the policy is “populist politics driven by anger”.
“This is part of a wider wellbeing and mental health policy in schools,” Mr Chambers said.
“You should not go back to your stock position of attacking initiatives which will make a difference.”
He said that the Sinn Féin party policy is to introduce more spending on “everything”, citing their alternative budget proposal.
“This is a policy to protect children, to protect their mental health and wellbeing in schools. It’s disappointing to see you attack an initiative that will make a difference.”
The minister for further and higher education also waded into the debate on Thursday saying that you cannot "conflate the building of a bicycle shed to children's welfare".
Patrick O'Donovan criticised any party who would call a measure to "protect" a student a waste of money.
"For a political party to suggest that a mechanism that is designed and put forward by the minister in good faith to protect child welfare is a waste of money, I think, reflects more on them," he said.