Govt fund not a bail-out for insurers: Hanafin

Insurance companies are being warned not to use the Government's humanitarian fund to avoid paying out compensation to flood victims.

An initial €10m has been allocated by the State to help those people whose homes have been badly damaged in recent days.

Minister for Social Affairs Mary Hanafin - who has been viewing the damage at first hand in Clonmel - has not ruled out increasing that figure, but says the Government does not have a "bottomless pit" of funds.

Meanwhile the ESB says it will not be increasing the rate of release of water from Parteen Weir in the midwest today.