claimed the Government misled the House over the €9 million phone pouch initiative announced in the budget and failing to declare that Minister for EducationSinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty had accused the Government of wasting public money, citing the €336,000 bicycle shed, the €1.4 million security hut and the “runaway” costs of the national children’s hospital.
He said he had obtained Freedom of Information documents stating that “Minister Foley was intensely lobbied by an executive from Yonder, a company that makes these mobile phone pouches” and read out a letter from a Yonder executive about his meeting with Ms Foley. He accused Sinn Féin of “hypocrisy” when the Northern Ireland Executive financed similar phone pouches. Sinn Féin holds the finance portfolio said the party was doing this for “naked political” gain.