Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's Government has underfunded mental health for years. Do not try and wrap this vanity project up as some of way of supporting hard-pressed parents who know that their children are being let down over and over again. If the Minister wants to ban mobile phones, tell the kids to leave them in their pockets. Do not spend €9 million on pouches. It makes no sense at a time when schools are struggling and when mental health services are struggling. The Government has dressed this up as something that it is not. Does the Minister seriously think that any child who is self-harming at this point in time, who cannot get support from the mental health services - where they are underfunded across the State - that the priority for their parents is a phone pouch? The Minister is living in cloud cuckoo land if he genuinely believes this. Just like the bike shed and security hut, stop the waste. Fund proper services.

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