Irish Examiner view: Schools need funding, not pouches for phones

Is 24/7 smartphone access a problem? Yes. Is it better that students be in class without a phone? Yes. Will pouches stop students putting some old piece of tech into a pouch and keeping a smartphone on them? No

€9m on pouches for phones is a 'health and wellbeing' matter, says Norma Foley. Picture: File

The game is afoot when it comes to the election, even if the Taoiseach has yet to formally declare it.

If we didn’t know before the budget, then we certainly did when we witnessed the budget largesse. And while the short-term credits and payments are all welcome for hard-pressed families, our writers noted immediately that we may have lost the opportunity for real generational change.