The President Mrs Mary McAleese today praised the "truly remarkable" response from Irish people to the appeal for victims of the tidal earthquake in South East Asia.
The Irish public has so far contributed more than €6 million to aid agencies in addition to the Government's official allocation of €10 million.
Speaking during a visit to the Dublin offices of the Irish Red Cross, of which she is president, Mrs McAleese said: "It has been truly remarkable to see the way in which people have responded to the grief and the suffering.
"We cannot give life back to those who are dead but we can give life back to the living by supporting them in every way we can, in particular supporting them financially."
"It has been wonderful to see the outpouring of goodwill and kindness that has taken hold this week as people from every walk of life have dug very deep into their pockets.
"I am very proud of the Irish people and I am incredibly proud of the work done by the aid agencies."
Meeting with Irish Red Cross chairman, Mr David Andrews, Mrs McAleese acknowledged that families in Ireland were still waiting anxiously to hear news of loved ones who were holidaying close to the devastated areas. The Department of Foreign Affairs estimates that up to 24 Irish people are still unaccounted for, although a poor communications system is hampering contacts.
Mrs McAleese said: "I just cannot imagine what it must be like in their homes. Every phone call must lift their hearts, every bit of silence and every absence of news must devastate them.
"We live in the hope that their worst fears will not be realised."
The president also paid tribute to the Irish aid workers involved in the "massive job of restitution" and asked them to pass on the good wishes and the goodwill of the people of Ireland. She thanked the media for its coverage of the disaster as "our compassion would not have opened up in the way it has done right around the world".
She said she was impressed by the global solidarity and deep compassion towards people thousands of miles away.
"We feel it and we feel the pain of it right in our living room and we cannot just switch off the screens and walk away."
However she said that questions needed to be asked about whether prior warning of the disaster could have been given to the coastal communities destroyed by the tsunamis.
"It is a devastating reality to know that someone might have had the knowledge and possibly had it in time to have done something," she concluded.
PA