Ciarán Lynch TD

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Govt must take action on radon gas levels in Cork

Issued : Thursday 27 July, 2006

"The recent revelation that a house in Kerry has concentration levels of 40 times higher the acceptable levels of radon shows the Government is not doing enough to tackle this deadly gas,” Labour’s Councillor Ciaran Lynch has said.

“I checked with the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) website which shows large areas around County Cork including a significant proportion of Cork South Central with levels of 10 to 20 per cent. According to the RPII these are categorised as high radon areas. One of the problems in Cork is a significant number of houses in older parts of the city have used limestone as a building material.

“The worst thing about this is that there a simple test which householders can carry out that will inform them of the radon levels enabling them to take preventative measures. My party colleague Deputy Emmet Stagg introduced a grant scheme which encouraged householoders to protect themselves and their families from this widespread naturally occurring poison gas. However when Fianna Fail got back into Government they abolished the grant.

“It is calculated that 200 Irish people die each year as a result of breathing radon in their homes. These deaths are preventable so it makes no sense whatsoever that the Government is not doing to prevent these deaths. I am calling on the Government to immediately restore the Remediation Grants Scheme to allow householders to test for this gas. Particularly given the fact that just under 4,000 of the 91,000 households believed to be affected by this gas have been identified.”