Sinn Fein leader Mary-lou MacDonald has called on Taoiseach Simon Harris to scrap the Governments €9 million plan to issue phone pouches to schools.
The Government's 'Keeping Childhood Smartphone Free' proposal was introduced in the recent budget.
Minister for Education Norma Foley defended the proposal, saying it was a positive step, however the Sinn Fein leader called it a "scandalous waste of public money at a time when so many schools are struggling to pay for heating and to keep the lights on".
The controversial policy comes on the back of recent public anger at the Dail bikeshed costing €336,000, a security hut at the Dept of Finance costing €1.4 million, and the cost of the yet to be finished Childrens Hospital which currently stands at €2.5 billion.