Given the planned UK interconnectors, the government has no principled objection to using nucleargenerated electricity. So presumably the major objection remains the dilemma of dealing with nuclear waste.

But we already have a huge nuclear waste facility on our door step and, however much we huff and puff, Sellafield is there to stay. So we end up in the ridiculous situation where we are stuck with the major downside of nuclear energy but have none of its benefits.

One nuclear power plant could supply all our electricity needs, massively reduce our oil and gas imports, drastically reduce our carbon emissions and secure our future energy requirements. The waste, of course, goes to Sellafield. It sounds to me like a win-win situation. Am I missing something, or is it simply that our objections to Sellafield have painted us into an irrational corner on this issue ?

Worries over Medical Practitioners Bill I am very conerned about the contents of the Medical Practitioners Bill currently being debated in the D�il. The powers which will be vested in the Minister for Health if this bill is passed, at present, are frightening.

The Irish Medical Council is set up to protect patients.

Under the new bill the Irish Medical Council loses its independence as the minister for health will have extensive operational influence over the council. The minister will have power to issue policy directives, the power to enforce policy directions as well as to appoint or remove council members or to dismiss the council.

Such complete power is very dangerous to invest in one individual. The Irish Medical Council has to date upheld the time-honoured ethical standards (based on the Hippocratic Oath) which is that abortion is professional misconduct.

However if the bill is passed by the D�il, this will not mean that a minister for health who has an ideological commitment to bringing in abortion in Ireland will some time in the future use a policy directive to force a change in these ethical standards and be the instrument for bringing abortion into Irish hospitals, as well as embryo research into the educational and the pharmaceutical laboratories in this country. The same result could be achieved indirectly by such a minister by filling the Irish Medical Council with lay appointees of his or her ideological view. Such loopholes leave unprotecetd the right to life of the unborn patient.

The Medical Practitioners Bill in its current form should be rejected by the D�il. It is very important that amendments to the bill should include a statement that the minister for health will have no role in the running of the Medical Council and that the Medical Council is free from political interference. The degrading of the medical profession when doctors became tools of the state and assisted in the social engineering policies of Nazi Germany is still within living memory.

Dr Mary O'Carroll, Woodlands, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

Emmet's epitaph cannot be written yet Shane Coleman (News, 4 March) quotes and then paraphrases Francis Fukuyama's phrase "the end of history" when referring to the Ireland-England rugby game in Croke Park. He writes that possibly we are seeing the end of history "between England and Ireland". Not quite yet!

The small matter of 'unfinished business' remains.

His misty-eyed article should not distract him from what is fact.

Further in his article he ponders: "I could not help think of Robert Emmet's line from the dock about his epitaph not having been written until Ireland had taken its place among the nations of the world". Then he goes on to say "obviously Ireland took its place among the nations of the world a long time ago. . ."

Eh? When did that happen?

Like others who can be conveniently blinkered when they do not want to see, Shane Coleman seems to have forgotten that six of Ireland's north-eastern counties are still under British rule - a very long occupation!

Far from being symbolic in the way he means, the playing of 'God Save the Queen' in Croke Park shows how ignorant the British establishment is when it comes to history between Ireland and England.

Furthermore, just because people refer to the 26 counties as "Ireland" does not make it de facto. When Ireland gains her full freedom - ie the 32 counties - she will return to the nation she once was. Then we can assuredly write Emmet's epitath - but not until then.

Cathleen Knowles McGuirk, Ulveron Court, Dalkey, Co Dublin.

Remember Tara on election day A NATIONAL poll found that seven out of 10 Irish people want the proposed M3 moved away from Tara. But these seven out of 10 people are ignored.

President Mary McAleese and ex-president Mary Robinson were approached regarding Tara - their failure to speak out is disappointing. I can't believe they approve of this. Labour and the Greens have said in writing they will move the proposed M3 away from Tara and restore the railway as soon as possible.

Fianna F�il and the PDs plan to destroy Tara with a proposed double-tolled, sixlane highway which will destroy railway structures which lie in its proposed route, including the fine railway bridge at Cannistown, three miles from Navan.

So if you want to save Tara vote Labour and the Greens. If you want to destroy Tara vote Fianna F�il and the PDs. Fine Gael have not yet declared their intentions. But if you want to keep the destroyers out then you need to vote Fine Gael too - otherwise. . .

Mark Mc Mullan, 22 Bellevue Copse, Booterstown, Co Dublin.

Report did not originate from Spirasi I AM writing this letter on my own behalf and on behalf of all the psychotherapists and care staff at the Centre for the Care of Survivors of Torture, Spirasi.

An article by Colin Murphy (News, 12 March) appeared in your newspaper dealing with a hunger strike by an asylum seeker at Hatch Hall direct-provision hostel in Dublin, operated on behalf of the Reception and Integration Agency of the Department of Justice.

While we accept the importance of highlighting the injustices that this individual has experienced, we are concerned about certain aspects of this article, especially the erroneous impression that confidential information may have been inappropriately released to media sources by psychotherapists from the Centre for the Care of Survivors of Torture.

The report, attributed to a psychotherapist from our centre, did not originate from our care centre and was not provided by our psychotherapists. Our clinical staff members take great care to comply with confidentiality procedures and the professional principles laid down by the codes of ethics of the Irish Council of Psychotherapy and the Irish Medical Council.

We are also concerned that confidential information from this asylum seeker's legal records has been made public while his case is still being considered within the legal asylum process, and while he is still in a very vulnerable psychological, medical and legal situation. We accept, however, that this was done with the individual's permission.

We wish to assure all clients who access the services provided by the Centre for the Care of Survivors of Torture and all professionals who refer clients to the centre, at Spirasi in Dublin, that we apply the strictest standards of confidentiality to all client information.

Margaret O'Reilly Carroll Psychotherapist Coordinator, Centre for the Care of Survivors of Torture, Spirasi, 213 North Circular Road, Dublin 7.