Education Minister Norma Foley has vehemently refuted Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty’s allegation that she misled the Dáil over her involvement with a mobile phone pouch firm, reports RTE.
During the last Leaders’ Questions of this Government’s term, Mr. Doherty brought up the €9 million budgeted for schoolchildren’s mobile phone pouches.
Mr. Doherty had questioned why it had not been disclosed that two years prior, Minister Foley had met with a representative of Yondr, the firm that manufactures the mobile phone pouches, and was given a pouch.
On this matter, he said that Ms. Foley had misled the Dáil.
A spokesman for Minister Foley said: “Minister Foley has held no formal meeting or discussion with Yondr, nor have any departmental officials. There is no question, therefore, of Minister Foley having misled the Dáil in relation to this matter,” reports RTE.
At the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals’ annual conference in Galway in October 2022, the Minister did have a brief meeting with a Yondr official, but it “lasted under 60 seconds” as she passed kiosks pertaining to education that were set up in the hotel.
According to correspondence made public under the Freedom of Information Act, Yondr has made numerous requests for a formal meeting of this kind, reports RTE.
Regarding his false accusation that she “misled” the Dáil on the matter, Minister Foley has written to the Ceann Comhairle’s office to ask Mr. Doherty to amend the Dáil record.
Mr. Doherty had earlier in the Dáil questioned why consumers had not been informed that up to 100,000 pouches will be replaced each year with a €2 million top-up, reports RTE.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin responded by arguing that Sinn Féin was attempting to create an environment that would make this a significant election issue.
According to him, social media is the major menace of “our time,” especially for youngsters, and he has long been an advocate for public health, reports RTE.
Additionally, he said that the amount spent on the bike shelter at Leinster House and a security facility at Government Buildings was excessive.
Following a few boisterous arguments, Ceann Comhairle stepped in and told the TDs that although they were eager and heated up, they should keep it for the doorsteps.
When the budget was announced last month, Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Féin, called the €9 million spent on mobile phone pouches in secondary schools “a terrible waste of public money, reports RTE.
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