Donal O'Mathuna, senior lecturer in ethics, decision-making and evidence, School of Nursing, Dublin City University:"Roberta Bivins makes important historical connections, but a crucial distinction is needed.
When sick, we want to feel better and be cured. We hope the two go hand-in-hand, but they may not.
"Medicine might cure the disease, but leave the person feeling worse. Alternative medicine might help people feel better, but leave the disease unaffected.
"The best is when effective cures are delivered in caring, personal ways. That requires a commitment to evidence of effectiveness and respect for persons. That should be the goal, not just having choices, as Bivins suggests."
Avril Ivory, dean of the College of Naturopathic Medicine, Dublin:"We are seeing a large increase in the number of orthodox health professionals seeking further training so that they can embrace a more holistic model of health.
"In alternative medicine, the first line of treatment is to encourage changes in behaviour, nutrition and lifestyle together with the use of herbs and relaxation techniques.
"It is surely only when these fail to produce results that we should treat with drugs or surgery.
"Currently, drugs and surgery are used first and the result is an overburdened healthcare system where people abdicate responsibility for their own health and suffer the consequences."
Dr Sebastian Van Eynatten, medically trained doctor and Cork-based medical homeopath:"I think Roberta Bivins is right to place homeopathy in its historic context given that its founder, Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), was a product of the Enlightenment period.
"Later, the rise of pharmaceutical drugs meant that acute conditions could be treated more efficiently. However, society has changed again and there is an incongruity between the medical establishment's emphasis on evidenced-based medicine and the level of dissatisfaction among patients about lack of communication between doctors and patients.
"I think the poor doctor-patient relationship is one of the reasons why holistic therapies are on the rise again.
"Medicine has to be inclusive of biomedicine but also value the doctor-patient relationship in terms of good communication and empathy."