Irish Aid Bodies: Over €20m raised

Irish aid agencies have now raised more than €20.8 million for tsunami disaster victims. This is more than twice the Government's allocation to the disaster appeal.

The Irish Red Cross expects that it will have passed the €10 million mark when the money from various weekend events is added up.

Concern has raised more than €3.5 million and also expects that figure to increase when the weekend's takings are totalled.

More than €3 million has now been donated to GOAL. A spokeswoman said it was difficult to know how much the agency would receive from the various "Sport for GOAL" events held in the past two days. "But we expect to receive a couple of hundred thousand anyway," she said.

The agency received more than €250,000 from a fundraising event on Grafton Street on Saturday.

Trócaire has received €2.2 million from the public, but expects to double that when the Catholic Church's weekend collections are added up.

UNICEF Ireland's emergency appeal has raised more than €1.4 million.

Oxfam has had to take over a 10,000 square foot warehouse at Belfast City Airport to hold the mounds of clothing and gifts being donated to its charity shops.

The charity has received more than €700,000 in cash, and thousands more in gifts. Tric Baby shop in Dublin donated 1,700 shirts, worth €34,000, to the charity while Rossmere Developments gave €10,000 to an Oxfam shop.

The Irish Taxation Institute has reminded taxpayers that payments to certain charities can attract tax relief.

The donation must be made to a recognised charity and the amount given to that charity in the year must be at least €250 for the relief to apply.

Meanwhile, more than 700 people have applied to become Red Cross volunteers to help in the relief operation in Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

"The applications we have received have not been limited to the medical profession," said Ms Margaret Conway, deputy secretary general of the Irish Red Cross.

"While doctors and nurses made themselves available to travel to Asia, we also have applications from farmers, engineers, builders, carpenters, electricians and plumbers. Indeed we have received an application from a group of divers in Drogheda, Co Louth, who indicated that they would travel to Asia to help,"she said.