Recommendations about how to comply with radon regulations in new buildings will benefit everyone in areas with high levels of the radioactive gas, the Minister for the Environment has said.
Speaking after the publication of a new guidance document, Mr Roche said research had shown that building regulations introduced in 1997 had led to a significant reduction in the incidence of high radon levels in new houses.
The inclusion of maps in the new guide would also make it easier for people designing and constructing new buildings to check if relevant sites are in high radon areas, he said.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that enters buildings through the soil. If it accumulates, it can lead to a greater risk of lung cancer.
The updated technical guidance document aims to ensure that existing radon protection measures are carried out more effectively. It will apply to all construction starting on or after April 1st, 2005.
"These new measures will assist everyone in the building industry in ensuring the maximum effectiveness of radon protection measures in new buildings," Mr Roche said. "Over the long term, that will bring benefit to many people living in high radon areas."
But the Labour Party spokesman on nuclear safety, Mr Emmet Stagg TD, said the new guidelines did "absolutely nothing" to address excessive radon levels in hundreds of thousands of homes built before 1997. "The best advice the Government can give is merely to 'open the windows', as then minister Martin Cullen advised the Dáil last year as the best method of dealing with radon gas."
Mr Ciaran Cuffe TD (Green Party) called for the reintroduction of a grants scheme to tackle radon gas in existing homes.