Every window in the four-house block in Tralee, Co Kerry, where one family discovered they had almost seven times the accepted radon levels, were wide open yesterday. In one of the houses the doors, too, were open.
Simple ventilation was of some help in dealing with the potentially deadly gas which has so far accounted for two cases of lung cancer in nearby Castleisland, explained Mr Mick O'Neill, of Spa Road, Tralee, also known as St Joseph's Estate.
Most of the houses in the estate are now privately owned, so technically it is up to the householders to carry out any remedial action that might be necessary.
However, for people like Mr O'Neill and his wife, who do not yet own their houses, there is little they can do. Last October, following media reports that houses on the limestone rock of Tralee and Castleisland had some of the highest known radon levels in the world, Ms Nora O'Neill sent for two testing devices to Radon Laboratory Services Carrick-on-Shannon.
The O'Neills placed the two coin-size devices in the sitting room and in an upstairs bedroom. Three months later they sent them back. The results shocked them.
Their sitting room registered a level of 1,765 Bq/m3, while the bedroom read 1,069 Bq/m3, far above the national reference level of 200 Bq/m3, and the Radon Testing Services advised them to take remedial action. On average, the house as a whole was experiencing levels of over 1,300 Bq/m3.
Eight of the O'Neills' neighbours have now installed radon monitors. The O'Neills had a meeting with officials from Tralee town council to see about remedial action, but they were told there was no money available to the council for remedial action on radon.
Mr O'Neill (61), a native of Raheen-Union Hall in west Cork, has put down strong roots in Tralee and has no intention of leaving the area.
He feels strongly that the council should get the €2,000 from the Government to put in the necessary sump and pipe to get rid of the gas.
People should test their houses, he advised. "Everybody should be worried for their health and the health of their children and grandchildren," he said yesterday.
The high levels in Tralee and Castleisland are thought to be due to the geology of shale overlaying limestone, and there are many caves and cavities where the gas gathers.
Last July a house in Castleisland was found to have extraordinary high levels of radon.
Authorities were alerted to the house after two of the three occupants developed lung cancer. Both were non-smokers, leading their GP to suspect high radon levels and to recommend testing for radon gas. One has since died.
The house was found to have levels of 49,000 Bq/m3, the highest concentration ever found in any occupied house in western Europe.
Astonishingly, only a small number of people in the Castleisland and Tralee areas have tested their houses.
As reporters found yesterday, there is also a reluctance among householders to admit they have experienced high levels of radon because of a fear that their houses might be devalued, but the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland advises that remedial measures are effective.
Kerry County Council has distributed devices for tests in its houses in Castleisland town, and the levels have been found to be acceptable. Since 1996 in Kerry new houses are required to have radon barriers as part of their planning conditions.