The Belarussian ambassador has denied that his country has banned adoptions of children to Ireland and other overseas states.
However, Dr Alyaksei Mazhukhou yesterday told the Adoption Board in Dublin of tough new regulations on inter-country adoptions which have been introduced in Belarus.
These stipulate that only children who cannot be placed for adoption with Belarussian parents over a six-month period may then be considered for foreign adoption.
Sources say that many of the 40 Irish families which have applied to adopt in Belarus are "gutted" by the news. Some of these are attempting to adopt children suffering health problems as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.
Last week President Alyaksandr Lukashenko vowed to stop the outflow of children abroad. "We are capable of raising our children ourselves," he said.
Inter-country adoptions from Belarus had earlier been suspended following a demand by Mr Lukashenko for a complete review of the procedures.
Yesterday, speaking to The Irish Times, Dr Mazhukhou defended the new procedures. "Irish people seeking to adopt would get priority in your country, and we are only operating the same procedures. We have to look after our own country and people first," he said.
Adi Roche, director of Chernobyl Children's Trust, said she hoped the Belarussian government would reconsider its position.
"All children have the right to a future and the chance to realise their talents. There are many Irish families waiting with loving hearts and homes to offer this to children from Belarus," she said.
Recuperation holidays in Ireland for children from contaminated zones, though under threat, will go ahead as normal this year, she confirmed.
Last year President Lukashenko announced his intention to limit the numbers of children travelling to Europe because of the "consumerist" values they were bringing back to Belarus.
However, following intervention by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, and others, this threat has not yet been implemented.
Some 56,000 children from Belarus have gone on recuperation holidays, 2,500 of them in Ireland, according to Mr Mazhukhou.
However, he said, this was only a small proportion of the youth population of the country and the government now preferred to see holiday centres for children built in uncontaminated areas of Belarus.
