Minister claims Sinn Féin 'misled the Dáil' on €9m school phone pouches issue

The Dáil was told by Pearse Doherty that Norma Foley met an executive from Yondr, the company who will supply the pouches, at the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPDP) in Galway two years ago and the executive gave the minister a phone pouch. File photo: Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Minister for Education Norma Foley has hit back at claims from Sinn Féin that she was "intensely lobbied" by the company supplying the phone pouches to be rolled out in secondary schools across the country.

Leaders Questions became heated after Pearse Doherty made the accusation, with the Ceann Comhairle threatening to suspend the Dáil on the final day of the government.

Mr Doherty told the Dáil that Ms Foley met an executive from Yondr, the company who will supply the pouches, at the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPDP) in Galway two years ago and the executive gave the minister a phone pouch.

According to emails, provided under the Freedom of Information Act and seen by the Irish Examiner, the Yondr executive sent eight emails to Ms Foley's department between July 5, 2023, and April 9, 2024.

The executive notes in the opening email: "We met at the NAPD Conference last October, where I gave you a Yondr pouch for you to see it for yourself."

Reciting this email in the Dáil, Mr Doherty accused Ms Foley of misleading the Dáil: "Please explain to me why Minister Foley in a parliamentary answer on the record of this Dáil, when I asked did she have any meeting with an executive from any of the phone companies, she said no."

Ms Foley wrote to the Ceann Comhairle’s office on Thursday to request Mr Doherty to correct the Dáil record in relation to "his incorrect claim that she misled the Dáil on the issue".

A spokesperson for Ms Foley said that no formal meeting took place between the minister and the Yondr executive but rather they met in passing with the encounter lasting "under 60 seconds".

In a statement, the spokesperson said that at the conference in 2022, Ms Foley was passing through education-related stalls that had been set up in the hotel on her way to give a speech.

"She briefly stopped to say hello to the staff at the stalls, including a Yondr representative at their company's stall, who gave her a Yondr pouch." 

Such "meet-and-greet" encounters are a regular occurrence and are not comparable to formal meetings on department policy, the statement on behalf of Ms Foley said.

In the various emails sent over the course of 10 months, the Yondr executive repeatedly requested a meeting with the minister but was told: "It is the policy of the Department of Education not to endorse or promote any individual or commercial products or services outside of that procured by the department itself or its agencies’ support services".

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On one occasion, November 22, 2023, a member of the department wrote that the offer of a meeting was appreciated and officials would be in contact to arrange details. A spokesperson for Ms Foley confirmed on Thursday that the decision was ultimately made not to proceed with this and no arrangements were ever made.

The latest revelation from Sinn Féin comes after leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Dáil on Wednesday that the €9m spend was not a "once-off investment", as Ms Foley has said, but would cost an additional €2m a year.

It was a point raised again by Mr Doherty who asked: "Why weren't we told that there would be a cost of nearly €2m every single year after for these phone pouches? Why weren't we told that nearly 100,000 of these pouches would have to be replaced every single year?"

In an exchange which devolved into a shouting match between both sides of the chamber, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that Sinn Féin are "desperately grasping at straws, to grab an issue, that you think might rescue you, or whatever, help you in the election campaign".