Taoiseach accuses SF of ‘hypocrisy’ as phone pouch scheme already in place in Northern Ireland [Video]

SINN FÉIN HAS been accused of “hypocrisy” by Taoiseach Simon Harris over the party’s 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.

DUP Education Minister Paul Givan, who is in the joint government with Sinn Féin, Alliance and the UUP at Stormont, announced the move in Northern Ireland earlier this year.

The scheme in the North cost £250,000 for pouches for 10 schools. 

In this year’s budget, the government allocated €9 million for a fund for schools to purchase pouches for mobile phones for pupils aimed at minimising disruption.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has suggested the money for the scheme “could …