Chernobyl children - Uplifting scheme is worth saving

IN A world where bad news prevails too often, the summer visits to Ireland by children from Chernobyl represented something uplifting, something that we could all take a degree of pride in.

But, if a Belarussian government plan to veto the visits is put in place, we will all be so much the poorer.

Irish officials in Moscow have already discussed the matter with their counterparts in the Belarussian embassy. They hoped to convince the Belarussians to allow the more than 1,000 Irish host families, who bring children here for rest and recuperation breaks, to continue the practice. Two issues are in contention.