Although the water level has dropped nine inches in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, people have not yet been allowed back to their homes. However the road through Craughwell has now reopened and both the N6 and the new motorway will be used by traffic en route to Dublin. Meanwhile the Headford Road route into Galway, which had been used as a detour due to flooding on the Tuam Road, is now experiencing its own problems with water levels rising at the Curragh Line.

Meanwhile in Cork damage to the city's main water treatment plant on the Lee Road has led to some 80,000 people being without water and it is expected to take up to a week to restore supplies.

Residents of the area along the lower River Shannon have also been warned of further flooding.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen is to travel to the affected areas today in Counties Clare, Cork, Galway and Tipperary to view the damage for himself, though he and Minister for the Environment John Gormley have said it is too early for a decision to be made on the provision of a national emergency fund.

Industrial action to affect social welfare payments

Tomorrow's day of industrial action by public sector workers will have the effect of delaying payments to some 55,000 social welfare recipients, those who are paid by cheque and some 35,000 who are on short-term schemes with payments due on Wednesday. All the Department of Social and Family Affairs offices will be closed to the public, as will telephone lines. Meanwhile it is anticipated that trade unions will return to talks with the Government on the issue of €1.3bn savings in the public service pay bill.

In addition to those workers involved in flood relief, members of the Irish Nurses' Organisation and the Psychiatric Murses Association have called off their strike in Cork and Ballinasloe in light of the flooding emergency.

Teenager dies in Connemara crash

One teenager was killed and one is in hospital after a single vehicle crash in Connemara last night. The 16-year-old front-seat passenger died when the car left the road and overturned near Leitir Mealláin; the driver is being treated at University Hospital Galway. The only road to Leitir Mealláin is now closed while gardaí carry out an investigation at the scene of the crash at Crimna.

Mary Flaherty (87) died in a fire at her home in Kilcormac, Co Offaly, yesterday morning. Neighbours raised the alarm at around 9:30am but she was already dead when fire fighters gained access.

Breakthrough in cancer treatment

Dr Michael O'Dwyer from NUI Galway, one of a team of Irish researchers from Galway and Dublin, will today present the findings of their research into leukaemia at a conference in Dublin. The team have carried out tests of a new drug which gives improved results and fewer side effects to those recently diagnosed with the disease.

Armagh road closed by PSNI

The police in Armagh have closed the Mall in the centre of Armagh city following the discovery in the early hours of the morning of a suspicious object. The object, which has caused the closure of one school in the city, is to be examined by British Army bomb experts.

RNLI crew rescued off Wexford coast

When a Coast Guard helicopter responded to flares sighted off the Wexford Coast yesterday morning it came across two members of the RNLI sitting on their upturned RIB, which is primarily in inshore rescue vessel. A search was conducted for another member of the lifeboat crew and he was recovered from the sea some 90 minutes later. All three crew members quickly recovered from mild hypothermia.

The RNLI crew were on a regular training exercise off the northern shore of Wexford Harbour when their RIB capsized.

Monday's Papers

Water, or the lack of it, features in the lead stories of both the Irish Times and the Irish Examiner, with "Taoiseach to visit areas hit by floods as more rain predicted" and "Water crisis hits flood victims" respectively.

The Irish Independent chooses to focus on the imminent publication of the Child Abuse Commission Report under the headline "Why probe can't name all child-sex monsters".

The Irish News front page is entirely devoted to the attacks on police in Co. Fermanagh and in Belfast, with the headline "Policing Board was warned of attack risk".

The Weather in Galway

It has been a mostly sunny morning but we have also experienced one very heavy shower but such showers are expected to die out. Temperature 10C.

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