Bailout:More than 1,000 worried Northern Rock depositors contacted the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority helpline yesterday following news of the Bank of England's emergency bailout of Britain's fifth-largest mortgage lender, writes Laura Slattery.

The British bank has assured Irish consumers that it is solvent, that their savings are safe and that there are no restrictions on withdrawals beyond those that normally apply. Irish savers have a total balance of around €2.3 billion with Northern Rock, with an average of more than €90,000 held in around 25,000 accounts.

Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Brian Cowen last night reassured worried savers about their money.

"Since this issue has arisen the UK authorities have been admirably clear on the situation. They judge that Northern Rock is solid, meets its regulatory capital requirement and has a good loan book," he said.

Concerned Irish customers who tried to withdraw their savings on Thursday evening were still unable to access their account by yesterday evening.

An increase in traffic on the bank's websites, including its Irish site www.northernrock-ireland.com, from late on Thursday caused the website to seize up and forced the bank to put up a notice advising customers that it would take longer than usual to log in to their online accounts.

The bank apologised for the problem and asked customers to be patient. Some customers also queued for two hours at Northern Rock's only Irish office in Dublin in a bid to withdraw funds.

Many consumers were unable to get through to Northern Rock's Dublin phone number - 01 602 0324 - and the support number for Northern Rock Ireland on 1850 315 115.

Deposits with British financial institutions are protected under the Financial Services Compensations Scheme. In the event of a bank failure, this scheme will provide compensation of 100 per cent on the first £2,000 and 90 per cent on the next £33,000 - a total maximum compensation of £31,700 (€46,275). In a statement, the regulator said it was in close contact with the British regulator, the Financial Services Authority, which was "monitoring the situation closely".

The Irish regulator said it was satisfied that no similar issues exist in the Irish banking system.

Northern Rock, which is the fifth biggest mortgage lender in the UK, has been hit by the so-called credit crunch, where banks have become unwilling to lend money to each other because of high rates of bad debt in the US subprime mortgage market.

The bank, which has its headquarters in Newcastle, relies on interbank, or wholesale, markets for its funding more than its competitors, prompting it to become the first bank to ask the Bank of England to give it emergency funds.

The Bank of England, the UK treasury, the Financial Services Authority and Northern Rock chief executive Adam Applegarth all stressed that the bank remained solvent. Customers should be "very greatly reassured" that the business is now backed by Bank of England funds, Mr Applegarth said.

"If I was a depositor, I'd think this was probably the safest place to invest," he said.

As Northern Rock customers continued to panic despite the reassurances that their money was safe, one of its rivals for Irish savers' money, RaboDirect, issued a statement stating that it was unaffected by the recent turmoil in wholesale money markets. Europe's largest online bank has the highest possible credit rating.

The financial regulator advised yesterday that customers can contact Northern Rock staff on its dedicated support line 1850 315115 which will be open from 8am to 4pm today and from 10am to 3pm tomorrow.

They can also e-mail the back on direct.saver@northernrock-ireland.ie. It reminded savers not to include any account information in their e-mails - just their name, contact number and preferred time of call.

The financial regulator will extend the operating hours today for its consumer helpline, which can be contacted on lo-call 1890 777 777. The helpline will open at 9am and stay open until 4pm. Further information is available on the regulator's consumer website, www.itsyourmoney.ie