Diplomatic bid to stop ban on Chernobyl children’s travel

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.

Officials at the Irish Embassy in Moscow met with their counterparts in the Belarussian Embassy in the city yesterday to plead the case of more than 1,000 Irish host families who bring children here for rest and recuperation breaks.

A spokesman at the Department of Foreign Affairs said embassy officials also hoped to travel to Belarus to speak directly with government representatives there in the next week or two.