Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 277: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the details of the bilateral agreement signed between Ireland and Belarus on 23 February 2009. [8564/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The agreement between the Governments of Ireland and Belarus signed in Minsk on 23 February concerns the conditions under which children from Belarus may come to Ireland for the purposes of recuperation. I am delighted that this will enable the many Irish charities involved to continue their important and ongoing contribution to assisting Chernobyl children to visit Ireland.

Following the failure of a Belorussian child to return from a visit to the US, in August Belarus proposed to all countries receiving children from it, including Ireland, formal agreements aimed at securing the welfare of the children and ensuring their return to Belarus. It indicated that, pending the conclusion of such agreements, visits by children would be suspended. A Presidential decree also imposed certain restrictions regarding the age at which children could travel, and the number of visits to any one country.

I moved immediately to open negotiations with the Belorussian authorities to resolve these issues. In October I met the Belorussian Foreign Minister. Officials from my Department and the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, working with our Embassy in Moscow, were involved in intensive contacts with the Belorussian authorities and in the drafting of an acceptable text. On 8 December, an Irish delegation visited Minsk and successfully concluded negotiations on the agreement, subject to later signature. Following this, Belarus confirmed that children would be allowed to travel over the Christmas period, and these visits proceeded as normal.

The agreement will permit the children's visits to continue, in accordance with our domestic law and relevant international conventions. Importantly, it ensures that the restrictions imposed by the Presidential decree were lifted insofar as Ireland is concerned. I am pleased that this matter has been brought to a successful conclusion and that any doubt there may have been over future visits by Chernobyl children to Ireland have been removed.

I am arranging for a copy of the Agreement to be deposited in the Dáil Library, and will send a copy directly to the Deputy.