Hundreds of houses in Tralee, Co Kerry, are to be tested for radon gas amid growing concern at continuing high levels of the naturally occurring gas in the town.
There have been calls also by the town council for Government funding to undertake remedial works on houses built before regulations came in for the gas.
Earlier this year, houses near the town centre showed extraordinarily high levels of radon - a carcinogen. Recent tests demonstrated the high levels have continued and, in some cases they have increased.
Startlingly high levels of radon have also been recorded nearby in Castleisland, also a limestone area overlaid by shale. In one case, in a house where the highest level of radon in an occupied house in western Europe was recorded, two occupants, both non-smokers, developed lung cancer. They had been exposed in a day to levels of radiation a nuclear power worker might expect to experience in a year, it emerged.
Mr Gerry Riordan, Tralee town engineer, this week advised residents to open their windows. Houses with double glazing and insulation were "hermetically sealed" and good ventilation, "literally opening the windows", was an immediate remedy, he said.
At a meeting yesterday, town clerk Mr Michael Scannell said Tralee Town Council did not have the money to carry out remedial works on older stock, which would include installing a sump. He was responding to questions from councillor Mr Tommy Foley, (Ind).
"Radon readings in September and October were actually up 10 and 20 per cent," Mr Foley said.
The council agreed to pursue grants from the Department of the Environment.
Up to 10 per cent of lung cancer cases in Ireland each year are attributed to radon gas.