In less than two weeks more than €2.7m has been raised by six Irish charities for Niger and other African countries affected by food shortages.
Concern alone has received €1.2m in donations and has described the response as phenomenal, as have Goal and Trócaire.
The Director of Goal, John O'Shea, today appealed to the Government to make a greater contribution as he pointed out that the public has already donated €85m towards the victims of the Asian tsunami earlier this year.
So far, the Government has pledged €2m to Niger.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs has said it would consider further donations after it received a report from former government minister David Andrews who is visiting Niger.
United Nations agencies recently increased their emergency appeals for Niger to €61m, which it says it needs to save 3.5 million people from hunger and malnutrition.
