David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their opening statement.

Towards the end of my contribution, I may ask about some solutions and how we can address some of these issues, but I first wish to pose some questions concerning the opening statement and some of the research findings. One of those findings is that one of the reasons doctors give for not speaking out about the challenges they face at work is because they fear it might damage their careers and there being a sense that repercussions might follow if they speak out in this regard. Is that anecdotal? Is it a rational fear, in the sense of there being examples in the research of circumstances where doctors did speak out and damaged their careers as a result? We know about whistleblowers in some areas, and this topic came to the fore recently and we discussed it at this committee. Regarding what is happening in healthcare generally, however, if one of the key findings emerging from the witnesses' research is that doctors are fearful of talking about the challenges they face because they fear the impact that doing so might have on their job or further career opportunities, are there examples of where something like that did happen?