Chernobyl children arrive in Ireland for Christmas

Children, from Belarus, aged between 6 and 17, arrived in Shannon airport this morning to spend the festive season with Irish families.

Adi Roche of the Chernobyl Children's project says many of the children are orphans.

"Many of the children are coming from different orphanages throughout the radiation zone, which is a quarter of the land of Belarus.

"These are children that have been plucked from the heart of an area that has been known as the world's most radioactive environment and they will be given a nuclear free Christmas.

"They will have clean air, clean food, clean water and this is going to give a good boost to their immune systems, which will help through the rest of what is a very cold winter."