Claire Hartnett talks to Padraig Cribben, chief executive of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, about how the recession is affecting Ireland's publicans.

What happens when your employer goes bust but leaves you chasing unpaid wages or holiday arrears? Big banks have the resources to pursue companies through the commercial courts over unpaid debts, but what options are available to employees left in the lurch? Claire Hartnett talks to Eileen O'Carroll, Assistant Principal Officer in the Insolvency Payments Section of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation.

With wind-up petitions coming thick and fast, few know the insolvency territory better than Collector General, Gerry Harrahill, a party to every insolvency case in the country as he tries to recover taxes owed from failing companies. Claire Hartnett talks to Gerry Harrahill about the Revenue Commissioners' role in the changing economic climate.

The figures say it all. Last year, 453 construction companies went bust – over 30% of the year's total insolvencies. In 2007, over 400,000 people worked directly or indirectly in construction – plummeting to well below 200,000 this year. The most recent CSO figures indicate that the total number of direct employees in the sector stands at just over 130,000 while experts expect the industry to fall in value from €38 billion in 2007 to well below €10 billion in 2010.

Conor O'Mahony of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), talks to Claire Hartnett about the spiralling levels of liquidation, and how the ODCE is adapting.