Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government must reconsider its decision to allocate €9 million in public funds to mobile phone pouches in schools. All schools I know, and all schools throughout the country, have very good mobile phone policies that have been bought into by students and teachers. Students understand that if they are caught with their phone on them in school, it will be confiscated. They adhere to the rules.

There was no consultation with schools, unions or any of the stakeholders on how €9 million should be spent. I have been in contact with some people who have mobile phone pouches in their school. The students are already finding ways to circumvent them. Some put their old phone into the pouch. Others have a smart watch on their arm anyway and they get all their messages that way. One very creative student has a magnet that opens the pouch. They get around them, and it is a terrible waste of money.

Prior to when Fianna Fáil crashed the economy, the school I taught in had a counsellor. That is what we need to see back in schools - counsellors who will meet students and talk to them about issues of concern and deal with them when, perhaps, they are self-harming and so on. The service was invaluable and it was missed when the funding was cut after the economy crashed. At the time, it was funded through the school completion programme.

Parents have asked me how many sensory rooms could be funded by €9 million. As it is, the grants for sensory rooms are insufficient and schools must fundraise. This money would make such a difference to them. How many additional SNAs could we have? How many additional special education teachers? There are so many different ways this money could be much better spent than on mobile phone pouches.

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