Having overcome the recent Belarusian ban on children's travel, children in need of medical assistance and recuperation flew 3,000 miles from the Chernobyl-affected regions into Shannon Airport. Many of these special children ae part of Chernobyl Children's Project International Long-term Care Programme and have waited patiently over the past four months to be allowed to travel  for Christmas.

 Through the intervention of Minister Michael Martin and the Department of Foreign Affairs, these children were at last given the freedom to be reunited with their host families in Ireland. They can now spend their long-awaited Christmas holidays in loving homes the length and breadth of Ireland in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Meath, Mayo and Donegal.

Many of the children making Christmas visits suffer a variety of Chernobyl-related illnesses and come from disadvantaged backgrounds in Belarus. Several of the children come from orphanages and institutions where Christmas would normally be a very bleak and lonely time for them. These essential visits allow the children to recover their physical and emotional health and avail of medical check-ups and assessments during their stay.

Adi Roche stated this is the best Christmas present of all to see the children's faces light up at being reunited with their host families. Words cannot describe the happiness that these children give back to Irish families up and down the country who open their hearts and their homes to these children. This year is particularly momentous because for the past four months we hoped and we prayed that the travel ban would be lifted. Seeing them here bears testimony to the fact that hope dies last! We are absolutely ecstatic that all of our hopes and our dreams have come true this Christmas!'