The Cabinet will discuss the impact of the recent Co Mayo landslides when it meets this morning, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Eamon Ó Cuív, said yeterday.
Geologists have warned that further landslides are "probable" in the Pollathomas/ Glengad area of Co Mayo.
The new alert was issued by Mayo County Council late on Monday night and the message was delivered to isolated homes by teams of gardaí well after nightfall.
Geological experts employed by the local authority said the area stretching from the old graveyard at Pollathomas to the radar station on Dooncarton Mountain was likely to experience further mudslides.
According to the Mayo county secretary, Mr John Condon, four or five homes were deemed to be at high risk and a number of householders had moved as requested.
The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Eamon Ó Cuív, visited the affected area yesterday and met local people at a public meeting in Aughoose Church.
"This was a natural disaster that could not have been foreseen," Mr Ó Cuív said after visiting the scene.
Asked if Government aid would be forthcoming, he said: "The long-term implications will have to be looked at but until we get the final report from Mayo County Council we cannot make decisions.
"There is infrastructural damage here and long-term damage to houses but we cannot deal with any of the issues without information."
However, not everybody in the affected area was prepared to heed the latest advice, reluctant to abandon houses where their families had lived for generations.
A father of two, Mr Michael Carolan, said: "I was asked last night to evacuate but I feel there is no great danger.
"I think there is a bit of scaremongering going on. What happened on Friday was a freak occurrence - a rare cloudburst which is unlikely to be repeated.
"I think we will remain until a more comprehensive report is available from the engineers who are carrying out tests on the mountain."
But another family, the McGraths, who run a pub at the base of Dooncarton Mountain, said they believed there was a potential risk if further heavy rain fell and they would be moving out at night as a precaution.
They closed their pub, which has been in the family for four generations, at around 10 p.m. on Monday after gardaí called to alert them of further danger.
Unofficial local estimates put the total cost of the damage to roads, bridges, homes and farmland at more than €10 million.
Mr Condon said special disaster funding would be sought from the Department of the Environment to repair the damage caused by the landslides.
Apart from the graveyard at Pollathomas, which was destroyed, roads were ripped up and bridges were also damaged.
Local TD Ms Beverley Flynn has demanded special humanitarian funding to deal with the crisis.
"In the wake of the flooding in several parts of Dublin last year, a special humanitarian fund was distributed to victims by the Irish Red Cross," she said.
"At this stage it is clear that up to 40 families on the slopes of Dooncarton Mountain will be out of their homes for weeks and they deserve some form of support."