The founder of the agency that provides services for people in areas affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident has said it urgently needs additional funds to continue the work it is doing.
CEO of the Chernobyl Children's Project International Adi Roche said its programmes, which provide services for up to 200,000 children and adults, cost €2.5m to fund but this year there has been a 75% drop in the response to its Christmas appeal because of the economic difficulties Irish people are facing.
In Belarus, orphanages scarcely have enough food for the children in their care because of financial cutbacks there.
The Cork-based Chernobyl Children's Project has spent €76m on medical and humanitarian aid programmes in Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine since 1991.
It said money donated by Irish people has transformed the lives of thousands of children who were abandoned by their families and ended up in shelters and orphanages.
They are now having vital, life-saving operations; are being taken out of the orphanages and placed with foster families.
This afternoon 80 children will arrive in Ireland for a three-week holiday with host families in 25 towns and villages.
According to Ms Roche, the unstinting generosity of the families who fund these holidays is an outstanding example of the true Christmas spirit.
