A ban on Chernobyl children travelling on recuperation holidays to Ireland may be lifted by Belarus in time for Christmas, it emerged today.

THE two little girls playing tea party in the sparse room of the orphanage caught John O’Riordan’s eye.

A CHILDREN’S charity has come to the aid of Chernobyl children after seeing harrowing scenes of orphans undergoing surgery without any anaesthetic.

DIPLOMATIC efforts are under way to get Belarus to lift a threatened ban on children affected by the Chernobyl disaster from travelling to Ireland for holidays.

MORE than 200 amateur cyclists will set off today in an attempt to raise €125,000 for victims of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

More than 1,000 children from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone will fly into Ireland today for the annual summer holiday scheme.

A major new cardiac programme for Ukrainian children will be officially launched in the former Soviet state today by campaigner Adi Roche.

SUPERMODELS Jodie Kidd and Helena Christensen are preparing to strut their stuff on the catwalk at Cork City Hall next week in a sell-out fashion show in aid of the Chernobyl Children’s Project.

SUPERMODEL Helena Christensen will be the star celebrity at a spectacular fashion show in Cork next month, sponsored by the Irish Examiner and Brown Thomas.

The Chernobyl Children’s Project International (CCPI) today warned thousands of children suffering from the effects of nuclear contamination in Belarus are in danger if authorities impose foreign travel restrictions.