Madam, - With regard to W.J. Murphy's letter of September 16th, perhaps our "unwillingness to pour millions down the bottomless pit of Cern" can be put down to the fact that we were far too busy pouring millions into other black holes. - Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY, Beacon Hill, Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Madam, - God be with the days when Eamon de Valera was allegedly one of three people on this planet who understood Einstein's Theory Of Relativity.
You would wonder which particular absence in "post-Dev" Ireland the man himself would be more disappointed about: the lack of maidens dancing at crossroads or Ireland's failure to participate in Cern. - Yours, etc,
FRANK DESMOND, Evergreen Road, Cork.
Madam, - David Sowby and George Reynolds (September 17th) are understandably critical of my letter of the previous day, but this is based on a misunderstanding. That is probably my fault: in an attempt to be brief, I grossly over-simplified a complex argument. I would agree with both of their points.
I wonder if they would agree with my substantive point: that the immediate results of the Cern project would not justify the pouring of millions of hard-earned Irish taxpayers money into it and that Irish high-tech companies that have the capability to win contracts in engineering and information technology will not be disadvantaged by this?
I accept that the word "nuclear" means different things to different people. And I should not have referred to Ernest Walton, mea culpa. - Yours, etc,
W J MURPHY, Malahide, Co Dublin.