WITH snow covered mountains in the background, the Cooley Peninsula looked more like a scene from a Christmas card than a hot spot for the potentially cancer causing radon gas.
At first the reaction of the residents to this threat might seem nonchalant.
"I don't think we have been told enough about radon... but the big thing here is cancer. If anyone dies here it's because of it. My father died in February, my sister in law two years ago and a niece of mine died from it 12 months before that. They all lived in the Cooley area," said Ms Anita Malone, who has lived near Shelling Hill and in the Cooley area all her life.
She said there was some publicity in local newspapers about the dangers of radon about three years ago and people were told to ventilate their houses but otherwise, little was known about it.
In Carlingford, village shoppers in McKevitt's supermarket were more used to worrying about cancer risks in relation to Sellafield.
Ms Claudine Richardson and her family live along the Dundalk to Greenore road where there is a breathtaking view of the coastline.
"There is so much cancer around here and there are some days that I think I can feel the foul air blowing across, especially if there is an east wind. I have a 16 year old niece who was very ill with cancer when she was six. She had 11 hours of surgery on her ovaries, but she has made a complete recovery."
Mrs Richardson's first reaction to the news about the radon levels was to talk about cancer but, like Ms Malone, she had not been informed about the associated dangers or remedial measures to take.
"We are frightened. .. I think the local politicians should put more pressure on the Government to do something about Sellafield and radon gas," she said.
Dr Andrew McDonald retired two years ago after working as a GP in Cooley for nearly 30 years.
"It became widely known that there was an association between high levels of radon and lung cancer." He was not surprised by the radon findings.
"I would be very interested to see if there is a causative factor between it and the number of cancer cases I've collected over the last 30 years."
In 1985 Dr McDonald researched his files on 4,500 patients. "I found there was a very high percentage of cancer cases of all types but I have nothing to compare my findings with."
It was only in 1991 that a national cancer register was created by the Government. Dr McDonald updated his research to take in the years 1965-85 and has found the most frequent cancer to be lung cancer.
"I came across a lot of lung cancers, there were 57 cases in 20 years, 14 females and 43 males, the majority were heavy smokers ... When I was young you heard of the odd case of cancer, now every month someone is dying of it. It is impossible to say if there is a link with Sellafield. We need a survey into the effects of low level radiation."
Back in Carlingford Mr Joe McKevitt was stronger in his reaction to the findings. "The amount of leukaemia in this village alone has been higher per head of population than other places of its size. My niece died at 14 from it. It's not shocking at all to hear about the radon levels."
He said it has been known "since the ice melted" about the increased illness in the region.
Mr Dan McKevitt, who lives in Carlingford, felt the coverage of the dangers of high radon levels had been overshadowed by Sellafield. "When it was first publicised a few years ago there was talk... I think people know about it but not about the risks that go with it."
Former Cooley resident Ms Martina Gogan now lives in Dundalk. "I think the radon levels are very worrying but there is a lot of apathy about it. I think Sellafield has over shadowed it and there is less awareness about it."
In Greenore one woman who did not want to give her name said she did not know much about radon or the risks associated with it, "but it doesn't surprise me - not when you live around this area. It's all double dutch to us."
In the Broadway Bar, the only pub on the street, owner Philip Comiskey said: "I know as much as everyone else, which is very little, about radon. There is very little information on it around here. People never talk about it, in the last three years I haven't heard it mentioned twice. If there is a death due to cancer people mention Sellafield, they don't understand about radon.
Back in Carlingford Ms Malone said once someone got sick or had to go into hospital it was assumed they had cancer.
"If there is anything wrong with you, it is cancer. But this is your home and you have to accept it. You dread it but you're not shocked when you hear about it when you have so many around you.