Adi Roche with Geiger counter at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
ADI ROCHE, BORN 1955
FOUNDER OF A CHARITY FOR CHERNOBYL DISASTER VICTIMS
Adi Roche was an active Irish member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at the time of the disastrous 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine. It was the most serious nuclear accident in history. Medical staff on the ground at Chernobyl were pleading for other countries to take in children affected by radiation for respite stays in a healthy environment. Roche established a charity, Chernobyl Children International, for this purpose. With the help of many volunteer Irish families, the charity over a period of years brought more than 20,000 Chernobyl children to Ireland on a temporary, and in some cases permanent basis.