Church collections: Catholic churches around the country witnessed one of their biggest ever collections at the weekend when parishioners were asked to support the Trócaire appeal.
Priests reported that the baskets were filled with notes rather than coins, and that many of the notes were large denominations.
It will be mid-week before the total is calculated, but a spokeswoman for Trócaire said the agency expected that the appeal would have raised at least €2-€3 million.
This was the figure raised by Trócaire's last church collection for the people of Darfur in Sudan.
"I would definitely think that it would be as much as that, if not more," said the spokeswoman. "This appeal seems to have touched everyone."
Father Rory O'Sullivan, spokesman for the diocese of Kerry, said people had been particularly generous.
"The Trócaire collection comes at the end of nearly two weeks of appeals and many people would have already given to charities.
"That hasn't stopped them giving again," he said.
Mr Martin Long, spokesman for the Catholic Communications Office, said the Catholic Church was "definitely pleased" with the response of parishioners at weekend Masses.
He said people had also responded enthusiastically to the four archbishops' plea for a day of solidarity on Friday last.
As well as fasting and reflection, the archbishops had asked people to be generous in the special weekend collections.
The Church of Ireland has launched an appeal for donations to its Bishops' Relief Fund. All money collected will go to South-East Asia.
The Presbyterian Church has already donated £100,000 to Christian Aid and Tearfund for the charities' South-East Asia appeals.
Presbyterian Moderator the Rev Dr Ken Newell also launched a appeal for funds shortly after the disaster.
