Irish public donates €48 million for tsunami relief

The Irish public has donated nearly €48 million to aid agencies working to help the victims of the Asian tsunami disaster.

Trócaire estimates it raised €15 million at church gate collections last Sunday week along with another €5 million in direct donations. A spokeswoman for Trócaire said the €20 million raised was enough to fulfill the organisation's plans in the region for the next three years.

The Irish Red Cross (IRC) has raised almost €14 million, with almost €1.5 million coming from businessman Mr John Magnier. In a statement the IRC said this had been its most successful fundraising event.

The other two main Irish aid agencies, Concern and Goal have raised over €5 million and €3 million respectively.

The four charities said today they were winding down their fundraising appeals although donations were still being accepted.

A number of other organisations including UNICEF Ireland, Oxfam Ireland and the Irish Bishops Appeal have also raised funds for disaster relief.

The Government has pledged to donate a further €20 million. A Government spokeswoman said today there were no immediate plans to increase this figure.

The death toll from the tsunami rose past 175,000 today after Sri Lanka raised estimates of fatalities by 7,275 to over 38,000.