My community discourages smartphones for all ages, and strongly discourages them through primary and high school. The next community over has no such attitude, and I live on the border. My two cents:

1. It's a great idea. Good luck to the Irish.

2. Anecdotally, the kids without smartphones really are much more socially connected, better problem solvers, less lazy, more respectful of others, and more focused. They exercise more, they hike more, they build more.

3. Most of the technical complaints are easily solved. Communication can be done excellently with dumb phones (or smart watches that have a phone built in). Education tasks can be solved with a desktop computer. eInk book readers without an internet connection is fine and encourages reading.

If that is too hard, a large tablet is a good compromise - annoying enough not to be impulsive (especially if you use a separate modem) but otherwise with all the benefits of a phone.

4. There is a strong tendency in our community for the kids to learn programming. Not sure if that is related, but the lack of smartphones is clearly not an impediment.

5. That said, there are things you miss, and it is a price to pay. For me as an adult, probably the lack of WhatsApp is the biggest issue. However, the price is WELL worth it.