The Government has authorised the Irish Red Cross to administer a humanitarian relief fund for householders caught up in severe flooding last week in large parts of Leinster and Munster.
Advertisements detailing how claimants can apply for the relief are expected to appear in the national newspapers within days.
Officials from the OPW will meet the Red Cross today after the Government decided in principle to establish a relief scheme for those whose homes were damaged in the flooding.
While there was no comment last night on the scale of funding, the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Tom Parlon, has indicated that the money available will be in line with previous relief schemes in which the average pay-out was €10,000.
On RTÉ Radio yesterday, Mr Parlon said "preliminary" figures suggested that some 500 householders had notified local authorities of their intention to seek aid under the scheme.
This suggests that the cost to the State of the latest humanitarian relief scheme will be at least €5 million.
Such a figure is significantly below the €13.5 million distributed after flooding in 2002, when homes in high-density areas of Dublin were damaged. Last week's floods hit Cork and towns including Clonmel, Arklow, Enniscorthy and Wexford.
In a statement last night, Mr Parlon stressed the purpose of the scheme would be to provide assistance to relieve hardship and not compensation. "Having visited a number of locations over the last few days I am aware of the level of distress caused to people arising from damage to their homes by the flooding."
While the Government would not say last night when people can expect to receive money, previous schemes have been set up within a matter of days.
Mr Parlon said notices will appear in the national newspapers "when the full extent of the damage is assessed".
The Red Cross was chosen to administer the scheme despite a recommendation in the Government's own review of flood relief, which said that future schemes should be managed by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
