Professor Bryan Hennessy:

They are not being actively restricted from doing it but they are restricted in the sense that there is no support from management because it is not recognised as an integral part of the healthcare system. They are restricted from doing it because of other commitments without a protected time for research. When one has a busy clinical load, that is all that one can really do without a protected time for research. That is an indirect block on developing a research programme or portfolio in a hospital because proper protected time is needed to do that, with recognition and support from hospital management, which needs to come down from the Department of Health. Research needs to be an integral part of the healthcare system.