David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Referring to the experience of hospital doctors, the opening statement states: "They have told us that sometimes they do not speak up because they fear it might damage their career". Obviously, that is the case and I have spoken to many doctors who fear doing that might damage their career. Is that because they have seen it happen to themselves or to other people? During the research, was it clearly established that there were explicit examples of this type of impact occurring to show that this fear is a rational one and that this accounts for why doctors do not speak up, or is it the case that doctors just have a fear that it may or might happen? There is a distinction between those two scenarios. I ask the witnesses to address this aspect.