‘Absolute mortification’ – Simon Harris blasts Mary Lou McDonald’s ‘hypocrisy’ over €9m mobile phone pouch plan outrage, Sinn Fein are in for some, Reality Shock, come this Election? They never Reply to a Email?

THE Taoiseach has attacked Sinn Fein “hypocrisy” over opposition to a mobile phone pouch scheme for schools.

Simon Harris said he was “absolutely shocked” after receiving a letter from Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald in opposition to the scheme in the Irish Republic when he found out a similar scheme is in place in Northern Ireland where Sinn Fein is in government.He said: “We unveiled a budget worth about €105 billion, and what we’re talking here is 20 quid per kid, or thereabouts.

“No pouch is going to be forced on any school, forced on any principal, forced on any child, but Minister for Education Norma Foley and the government have quite rightly worked with schools and prioritised the issue of safety around mobile phones, social media, online media, cyber bullying and the disruption that the mobile phone can have to the school day.

“This idea came from a number of schools who had already rolled out this project.

“We have over 700 secondary schools in Ireland. We have over 370,000 children in those schools and when you look at that… it is a very small investment of just over 20 quid.