Irish people's generoisty in helping Native Americans fight one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the United States has been described as "beyond amazing" by the Navajo Nation's attorneny general.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars poured in to the Navajo & Hopi Families Covid-19 Relief Fund since it began to go viral in Ireland, helping it burst through its target of $1.5 million (€1.3 million) last week.

The list of donors to the GoFundMe page is dominated by Irish surnames, and many donors left comments to say they were giving in remembrance of Native American aid to Ireland during the Great Hunger.

In 1847, members of the Choctaw tribe raised $170 in famine relief for Ireland, a huge sum for a time when they had very little, as it came after they had been driven from their land in the devastating so-called Trail of Tears.

The nation's attorney general Doreen McPaul who has Irish grandfathers, told RTÉ's Morning Ireland on Tuesday that it was "just really heart-warming" when she learned of the many donations from Irish people. "It made me want to follow up more," she said.|