Dear Mr. Lenihan

With regard to the recent furore surrounding your decision to launch John J. May’s book ‘The Origin of Specious Nonsense’, I feel your position as Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources has been compromised beyond repair and is therefore no longer tenable.

Your inability to hold this office is further demonstrated when your actions are compared to the mission statement set out by the department of Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources.

I quote here from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation website (http://www.deti.ie/science/technology/): “The office of science, technology and innovation (OSTI) is responsible for the development, promotion and co-ordination of Irelands Science, Technology and Innovation policy; and Irelands policy in European union and international research activities.

OSTI also supports and monitors the integrated awareness (and) Discover Science & Engineering (programmes), with the aim of increasing the numbers of students taking science as a career and promoting science literacy generally.”

For your benefit, a scientific theory can be defined as follows. A theory is a logically self consistent framework or model which describes the behaviour of a particular natural or social phenomenon, either originating from, or supported by, experimental and observational evidence. Therefore a theory is a systematic and formalised expression of all previous observations made that is predictive, logical, testable, and falsifiable; however, it must never have been falsified despite repeated attempts. In this sense, Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection is a theory. It is also an undisputable fact.

You, as the Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources, should be aware of this, and should never have agreed to attend the above mentioned book launch in any capacity. The fact that I need to inform you of this is further evidence that you are unfit to hold this portfolio.

When first questioned about your involvement with this book, you responded “John is a friend and constituent.” Unfortunately you have a responsibility to the people and future of Ireland, not just to your “friends”, and this, frankly, smacks of cronyism. When your personal and professional lives are in conflict in this manner, you should always opt for the latter, until such time as you are no longer a member of government.

Your actions and attitude demonstrate a clear danger to Ireland’s place in science research, her reputation, and the knowledge based recovery of the economy, and represents a clear attack upon both science and education.

Please resign your post immediately, before you cause further damage to this country and its future.