THE GOVERNMENT has reached an agreement with Belarus to allow children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to stay with host families in Ireland despite a travel ban imposed earlier this year.
Dozens of charities run programmes in which about 2,500 children are brought to Ireland each year for holidays. In late August, however, the Belarussian government announced it was outlawing such overseas visits after one child refused to return home following a trip to Italy. A similar incident occurred this year in the US.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said both sides were of the view that the agreement should be signed as soon as possible to ensure the first group due to travel to Ireland for Christmas are allowed to do so. Up to 200 children from Belarus are expected to spend the festive season here.
"The agreement will allow for the unrestricted continuation of visits by all children under 18, and will in the short term allow Christmas visits to proceed. I know that this news will come as a great relief to the many Irish families which welcome Chernobyl children to their homes every year and also to the NGOs which do such important work and whose role is recognised in the agreement," Mr Martin said.
Adi Roche of the Chernobyl Childrens Project International (CCPI) welcomed the agreement. "We are overjoyed. This is Christmas coming early. Words cannot describe how relieved we all are for the children and their host families up and down the country who can at last spend Christmas together. We have been waiting patiently for this day."
The CCPI said Ireland's agreement with the Belarussian government would act as a model for other countries seeking to overcome the ban.