There is no county in Ireland without a high level of radon gas, according to an update from the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII), issued today.
The organisation said that while counties in the west, southeast and south of the country are returning the highest rates of homes with high radon levels, every county is affected with the gas, which has been linked to up to 200 lung cancer deaths a year.
Radon is a colourless, odourless and tasteless radioactive gas which is naturally produced in the ground from the uranium present in small quantities in all rocks and soils. When inhaled, particles are deposited in individual's airways and on the tissue of the lung. This results in a radiation dose that can cause lung cancer.
In Sligo, 24 per cent of the homes tested by the RPII during the last six months of 2009 were found to be above the acceptable level for radon. In counties Waterford, Galway, Carlow, Wicklow, Mayo and Wexford, the rate is greater than 15 per cent.
According to the REPII, seven other counties returned results where more than 10 per cent are high.
Ten of the fifteen highest individual measurements were found in Kerry where the overall rate of homes tested above the acceptable level is 14 per cent. The highest lvels of radon were recorded in the area around Tralee and Castleisland.
Since establishing its radon measurement programme in the early 1990s, the RPII has measured almost 38,000 homes in Ireland. However, by the end of 2009, just over 5 per cent or 4,922 of the estimated 91,000 homes above the national reference level have been identified.
Last year, the organisation warned that there was insufficient tests of households and said that at current rates of testing it could take more than 400 years to assess the remaining households for gas levels.
Measuring for radon and, in the event of a high reading, reducing the levels present are both relatively inexpensive and the RPII and a number of private companies are now providing a radon measurement service which costs between €40 and €80.
The RPII has redeveloped its website so that householders can search for their address on an interactive radon map to see whether their home or workplace is in a high radon alert area.
