ACCEPTING the European of the Year Award in Dublin yesterday, Ms Adi Roche welcomed the prize as a timely boost for the work of the Chernobyl Children's Project which she founded.
She said the nuclear disaster and its aftermath had been described by the UN as the greatest environmental catastrophe in history.
After accepting the European Movement/CIE award from President Robinson, Ms Roche said that with a half life of 25,000 years, the radiation contamination would effectively last forever. It was devastating not only the lives and health of the community but also threatened death of the spirit of a people who could be called history's first major wave of environmental refugees.
There was a lesson in the fact that air, water and nuclear radiation did not respect national boundaries, and an opportunity for the Irish presidency of the EU from next July to give leadership in inspiring a sense of responsibility across Europe in environmental matters.
