Madam, - I must object to the unfair comment I have read and heard in recent days regarding Tánaiste Mary Harney's non-appearance on the Late Late Show.
My particular prompt are the letters in your edition of September 27th which suggest that the Tánaiste sought to limit the kinds of questions she might have to field and sought to "control" events.
That is quite simply incorrect. Indeed, when our discussions broke down, it had been indicated by Late Late Show personnel that they wanted to discuss no fewer than 11 separate issues, mostly about health, but also about wider governmental matters.
At no stage did the Tánaiste refuse to discuss any of the issues or attempt to limit the scope of the discussion.
It was the Late Late Show which proposed that three issues: - MRSA, A&E and the freeing up of public beds in hospitals - be covered by way of intelligent "audience interaction". The Tánaiste was quite prepared to have such interaction and we were discussing the interested parties who would raise the issues from the floor.
However, on Tuesday September 20th we were advised that the Late Late Show had sought confidential patient information from the Mater Hospital, which the hospital properly refused.
There are no valid reasons for such patient information to be released to media outlets, except with patients' explicit consent. There were no credible reasons in our view why such information was even sought for the proposed discussion. Accordingly, the Tánaiste decided not to proceed.
Over the past year, the Tánaiste has always debated and discussed health issues in any mature media forum - and she will continue to do so in the future. But she is entitled to be assured of full professionalism in their preparation - at the very least, that patients' rights are being respected. - Yours, etc,
MARK COSTIGAN, Deputy Government Press Secretary, Government Buildings, Dublin 2.