Simon Harris made remarks about a rising threat of “transatlantic trade shocks” after Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald asked him to scrap the phone pouches scheme.
Re-elected President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs against EU exports to the United States.
Ms McDonald said the initial cost of €9 million for the phone pouches would have a hidden extra cost of €2 million annually. The money should be invested in mental health services for young people, she said.
Mr Harris said: “When you like to talk about the state of our economy in terms of the use of taxpayers’ money, you do leave out a number of facts.
“You do leave out the fact that this is a country running a budget surplus – we’ve managed to put aside billions of euro to protect people from future economic shocks.
“I think that decision is looking even better today than it was yesterday, in light of global issues.”
Mr Harris added that phone pouches were being rolled out in Northern Ireland, where Sinn Féin was in Government.
They were good up there, but bad down here, he added.
“I look forward to debating this Government’s record in terms of managing our economy and managing the public purse versus your policies and your spend-all, leave-nothing for the buffer times,” he said.
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If there were any transatlantic trade shocks, Sinn Féin’s policy would look “utterly foolish and ridiculous,” he said.
“The issue of phone pouches wasn’t invented in the Department of Education, or by Government, or by any political party. This came about by listening directly to school principals.”
He told Ms McDonald: “I’m sure you heard the students on Morning Ireland a couple of days after this announcement, talking about the benefit they had found from these pouches.
“I’m sure you’ve met principal, principals, including the one in De La Salle college in Churchtown, where they introduced the self-locking pouches.
“The principal highlighted how this initiative had improved the social skills of the students, and had seen an increase in participation in extracurricular activities.
“Schools that have benefited from this initiative. That’s where the idea came from. This is not an obligatory or mandatory measure.
“Nobody’s going to demand a school take phone pouches. This is if a school wants to avail of this. It’s about twenty quid per student, a €20 investment in the mental health and well-being of a student.
“This is a Government listening and responding.”
