Irish peace activist Ms Caoimhe Butterly has made a desperate appeal for €8,000 in aid money that was stolen from her on Dublin's O'Connell Street yesterday.
A bag containing the money, travel documents and other personal documents was snatched by thieves as Ms Butterly boarded a bus on her way to Dublin airport.
About €5,000 had been raised by Iraqi exiles living in Ireland for their families, and a further $3,200 raised for the peace group Voices in the Wilderness.
Speaking to ireland.com today, Ms Butterly said she was not hopeful of getting a positive response to the posters that have been put up around the city centre and was looking into the possibility of setting up an emergency fund for donations.
The Cork woman believes the thieves probably had no idea what was in the bag, describing it as "fairly innocuous" looking. She was carrying cash because of the collapse of Iraq's banking infrastructure.
A report in today's Irish Times said one witness described the thief as a young woman who was accompanied by a middle-aged man.
Anyone with information should contact 087-7605762 or the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign on 01-6770253.
Ms Butterly plans to return to Iraq next week, where she described the situation in Baghdad as desperate. She said families were trying to cope without much electricity or running water and felt abandoned by the international community.
She added that shortly after the theft had occurred, a contact in Iraq had phoned her to say he was uneasy about her carrying so much cash in Iraq, where there have been reports of aid vehicles being hijacked and aid workers being robbed.
Ms Butterly said she is working on organising benefit concerts and other fundraising plans and that she was prepared to borrow the money if she had to.