Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

——or directly to the Minister of State and speak about their experiences? What guidelines were issued to them about speaking to the media? Why can we not hear their voices publicly and hear what they have to state about the delivery of service? During the recent negotiations on the consultants contract an attempt was made to prevent consultants speaking of their experiences of the health service. Nobody is going to talk about individual cases. However, I am extremely concerned about the fact that people working with the most vulnerable in our society did not feel they could speak out publicly without risk of something happening to them within their work setting.

Will the Minister of State examine this? It would be worth his while to speak to the front-line teams to hear about their experiences. The workers in the field should have the confidence to speak out about their direct experiences in the interests of children and families. What has happened to prevent them from doing so? They do not do so for the sake of it. They are not trying to pretend an emergency exists when it does not. They are genuine people. Why do they feel they must go on "Prime Time Investigates" anonymously? Will the Minister of State examine what guidelines have been issued and why professionals do not feel they are able to speak about their experiences in a proper context in an open society?