COMMENTING on the historic meeting between the leader of the DUP Rev Ian Paisley and An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at Farmleigh, Dick Keane (Letters, 8 April) states "we must resist our primeval urge to recapture ancient tribal territory and concentrate all our energies on "making friends with our unionist neighbours."

I wonder what planet Keane was on in 1998 when in excess of 96% of the electorate in the South who voted simultaneously with those in the North on the Good Friday Agreement agreed to end the constitutional claim to the territory of the six county state as enshrined in Articles 2 and 3 of Bunreacht na h�ireann.

A further statement that "we nationalists might screw it all up by banging on about a united Ireland, " displays an astonishing misunderstanding of constitutional politics.

This nationalist, for one, and no doubt many more will continue "banging on" for a united 32 county republic, and fully expect those who favour retaining the union with Britain to keep "banging on" to secure that retention.

It's called democracy.

Tom Cooper, 23 Delaford Lawn, Knocklyon, Dublin 16.

Let's "ght to continue cheap air travel

I GOT a good laugh from Eithne Tynan's article (Comment, 8 April). She's perfectly right. Much of the criticism of budget airlines stems from latent snobbery.

I'm old enough to remember teachers in primary school in the 1960s, holding up children, whose parents took them out of school during term time to go abroad on holiday, as an example for us all to which we, the poor, might aspire.

Now that working-class people can afford to travel, the green "aristocrats" insist that we're "ruining the planet."

Interesting, isn't it, that nowadays, even the Irish chairman of a leading football club in the UK, fair play to him, feels comfortable using easyJet. Let the richer classes suffer like the rest of us in Irish airports, and let's all fight to continue cheap flights. The carbon footprint of our occasional little city breaks is nothing compared to that of the SUV drivers.

Gear�id O Loinsigh, Mullach an Mharmair, Cnoc na gCroc, Cill Choinnigh.

Jesus was the "rst to talk of hell

YOUR contributor Ms Tynan seems to have a problem with the pope's teaching on hell.

May I suggest to her that she should bring her complaint to the very author of these words, not the pope, but Jesus himself in his discourse on the last things. He tells us what awaits all of us if we ignore his words:

"Depart from me, you cursed into everlasting fire" etc, etc.

Need I say more.

M O'Connor, Churchtown, Dublin 14.

E-voting undermines any democracy

RICHARD DELEVAN's article (News, 8 April) on the French attempt to introduce a similar non-verifiable e-voting system to the one the Irish government has attempted to introduce proves that there is no end to the chicanery of politicians whether they be Irish or French. Their contempt for the intelligence of ordinary people is breathtaking.

Despite the selective quotes in the article supporting the evoting system put forward by the Irish government, it has been condemned by the government's own commission. The latest report of the Commission on E-voting states that "under the chosen system with no voter verified audit trail (backup paper ballot) there is no independent way of resolving any doubt in an electronic voting result.

Should such a doubt arise, this creates the potential for the legitimacy of the system to be undermined."

Put simply, with the government proposed system, which has no voter verified backup paper ballot, it is not possible to verify that the votes counted were the votes cast.

Despite this, Richard Delevan states that "Ireland's e-voting plan is - officially - still on track." That means that the Irish government still intends to introduce an evoting system that its own commission has declared to be capable of undermining the most basic tool of any democracy.

A Leavy, 1 Shielmartin Drive, Sutton, Dublin 13.

Af"liation is setback to shooting sports

AT A time when sport shooters in this country are reeling from proposed increases of over 50% in license fees, a further Euro400 per person has been added to the cost of rifle shooting with the affiliation of the National Rifle Association of Ireland (NRAI) by the Shooting Sports Association of Ireland (SSAI), at Abbeyleix last week.

SSAI Chairman, Declan Cahill, welcomed the move and stated that he believed it would improve shooting sports in Ireland. Competitors wishing to represent Ireland in international centrefire rifle competition must now join the NRAI at a cost of Euro400 in addition to club membership or forgo any chance of representing their country.

This must be seen as a major setback to those wishing to continue in shooting sports, and those wishing to enter the sport. It is baffling to see how adding Euro400 per person to the cost of a sport can have a positive effect on the future development of the sport.

Adrian Mc Donald, 14 Fairways, Dublin 13.

I AM a staff nurse. I would like to ask the following questions of both the politicians and the general public.

Do you know that anywhere from 50% up to 80% of Irish nurses have left the HSE for the past 10 years? Would at least a 50% attrition rate be acceptable from the garda�, fire brigade, doctors, teachers and civil service? Why is it acceptable for nurses?

Are you aware that if the dedicated nursing professionals from the Philippines and India, to name a few, decided to leave Ireland that it would literally be 'throw away the key time'?

Would it be acceptable for the above named professions to have to rely for at least 50% of its staff on overseas staff? Why is it acceptable for nursing?

Nursing students can only register as nurses following successful study of a four-year degree.

Do you know their reward? Approximately Euro5,000 less than other health professionals with degrees and work four hours more per week.

Why treat nurses as inferiors? Because historically they allowed themselves to be bullied and were submissive?

This industrial action from nurses is 20 years behind the times compared to other professions. Only today I have spoken to firemen who are appalled at the pay and conditions suffered by nurses when they realise the true conditions. No other group would stand for this treatment. Why do the government and the HSE believe nurses are inferior? There can be no doubt about the dismissive way that nurses are treated. By the way, if the HSE average a nurse's salary at Euro56k, would it therefore be reasonable to average HSE management salary at Euro560k?

I would appeal to the general public to ask what kind of health service you require and aspire to. In 10 years there may not be an Irish national working in nursing. If this doesn't worry you please forget all of the above and let those 'good little girls' get back to work and be quiet. If it does concern you, please inform your politicians and support nurses. To the politicians I would ask, why it is acceptable to spend over a billion on tribunal lawyers to further uncover corruption from politicians, to spend Euro50 million and counting to undermine democracy in our voting system (Mr Dempsey), overspend millions on roads and infrastructure, have regular salary increases for politicians, have a Taoiseach who thinks it is a healthy standard to accept large donations from unknowns? Why is this accept-able but under no circumstances acceptable for nurses to earn a fair and equal salary and condi-tions?

Nobody's health is guaranteed but the demise of Irish nursing is, if this action fails.

Pat Kerrigan, 33 Hansfield, Clonee, Dublin 15.