Dublin's County Sheriff has been given court orders to seize millions-of-euro worth of assets from ruined developers in the aftermath of the property market crash.

John Fitzpatrick has been asked to execute an €8.5m order against one Dublin property magnate alone.

But although the number of orders is up since the economic crisis began, many debtors may never be forced to pay up because the money "isn't there".

Devastating

Mr Fitzpatrick estimated that the amounts retrieved have fallen by around 40pc since the downturn began.

He will look at the human cost of the recession in the short film The Sheriff and Me, which is to be broadcast on RTE1 at 9.30pm on December 6.

His office has allowed the cameras in to reveal the devastating effect of the financial crisis on three different sets of people and how their failure to deal with their debt ultimately involves the local sheriff.

Viewers will see the fallout when business success turns to failure, as one small family-retailer struggles to avoid the deployment of the sheriff's last weapon -- seizure of goods.

"Things are very busy, there's no doubt about that," Mr Fitzpatrick told the Herald this week.

"We are busier than we have ever been. But despite that, we are collecting a lot less because the money just doesn't seem to be there. We are getting large court orders against guys in the development business -- there would be millions in debts involved but we have little hope of getting it.

"Normally, you would be getting court orders to seize assets worth thousands, but now it's into the millions.

"Three-and-a-half million in one case and eight-and-a-half million in another."

Mr Fitzpatrick added that it sometimes seemed "unjust" to see smaller debtors pursued when such massive sums were outstanding.

Cheques

He said that the sheriff's warehouse was full of seized goods.

"There had been quite a lot of deals done, with post-dated cheques being accepted, but now we're taking stuff away."

He said repossessions of houses were virtually nil, with banks coming to 11th-hour agreements with homeowners.

"I have never seen repossessions so low," he said. "That's one good thing -- it's terrible to put anyone out of their home".

aphelan@herald.ie

- Andrew Phelan