Mr. Declan Burke:

Once Gas Networks Ireland is installing these, as mentioned earlier, we undertake a risk assessment in line with national and European standards. The risk assessment that is done on the location of the gas vents stack looks at a number of factors. It is actually a minimum of 1.5 m that these vent stacks can be located in proximity to properties, be it residential or commercial. Obviously, Gas Networks Ireland takes aesthetics into consideration. Nobody wants one of these beside their house. Typically, these are installed 3 m away from properties. Where we can, we will install them further away. The 5 m limit is a general guideline in terms of achieving that but we also want to minimise the amount of disruption in the area. We look to putting these units in secluded areas where possible. At the same time, where you put in the district regulating installation, you have to open to the ground to the vent stack. Again, it is to minimise that disruption. Hence, we arrived at the 5 m limit. The standard permits 1.5 m but as I said, we do not install them that close to properties.