'Today is about the clean up'

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will visit East Cork later today as he described how they will need to assess the flood damage and there will be financial help for homes and businesses affected so repairs can be carried out.

He also said he is awaiting answers to questions he has asked about the warnings in place ahead of Storm Babet.

"I haven't got a full report back on that yet." He said they will have to look back on what could have been done better."

"But that is not for today. Today is about the clean up."

However, he also moved to defend Met Éireann, saying it issued a flood warning and an orange warning. The storm was a named storm."

He said it is about getting the balance right and if it didn't issue the warning it would also be criticised.