On Friday, 24 April, Uachtaráin Catherine Connolly hosted a compelling ceremony to mark 40 years since the Chornobyl Nuclear Disaster, paying tribute to its victims and survivors and celebrating Ireland’s unique and unparalleled humanitarian response, led by Adi Roche’s Chornobyl Children International.
The ceremony, held in parallel with a special sitting of the ‘United Nations General Assembly’ at the United Nations in HQ in New York to mark the occasion, featured moving musical performances by a Ukrainian refugee choir and famed Ukrainian opera singer Olga Doroshchuk, alongside powerful first hand testimonies from witnesses and survivors.
President Connolly opened the ceremony with a heartfelt dedication Adi Roche as the humanitarian first-responder to Chornobyl; “Adi Roche saw what was happening in the aftermath of Chornobyl and made a choice, not a comfortable or easy choice, but a human one. She established Chernobyl Children International, and what followed has been one of the most sustained acts of solidarity in this country’s history. €110 million in aid delivered to children, families and communities still living with consequences they did not choose. 26,500 children given rest and recuperation with host families in Ireland. Neither pandemic nor war has interrupted that work. I want to say to Adi, and to every staff member and volunteer of CCI: what you have built matters. What you do matters. This country is proud of you, and I am honoured to stand with you. Today, we stand together in solidarity on the anniversary of this man-made disaster, and we remember those who have died, who have suffered and who continue to suffer. We acknowledge Adi Roche and everyone in this room who looked at all of that suffering and chose action. Chornobyl showed us what happens when institutions fail people. You have spent forty years showing us what happens when people refuse to fail each other. That is the more important lesson. And you have given hope to all of us.”
The ceremony was attended by CCI’s Board of Directors, which includes Ali Hewson and Former Minister of State Liz O’Donnell, as well as a wide range of the charity’s long-standing volunteers and supporters, and a number of young adults whose lives and health has been drastically impacted by the fallout of the nuclear disaster. Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland Laryssa Gerasko and members of the Irish diplomatic corps were also in attendance.
