Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

Every day in this Chamber and elsewhere, the word "recession" is at the tip of every tongue. I ask the Deputy Leader that he call on his colleague, the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to come to the House to have a debate on planning enforcement. When we talk about planning, people think about developers straight away. I am supportive of developers, as they are people who provide a very important service. There are responsible developers, but there are also developers who left estates unfinished in my county in the good times. Unfinished estates were an issue at the 2002 general election, the 2004 local elections, the 2007 general election and the 2009 local and European elections. These people have to be brought to justice. They have trousered the money they received for the development of houses and the local people are left without essential services. What will happen down the road is that the local authority will be forced to take charge of those estates and Seán and Mary Citizen will have to pay for what is required.

The recession is being used by some employers to exact unfairly money from their employees and to indulge in practices that are less than acceptable. This must be stamped out. The word "recession" had even been formulated before they were at it. What is going on is grossly wrong and human rights issues are involved. Something must be done. Members in the Dáil have also raised this matter. I ask for debates on planning enforcement and on the practice of extorting money from employees unfairly, using the recession as an excuse.