Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 319: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, given there was excessive radon levels in one third of schools here, his Department has plans or carried out tests for excessive radon levels in buildings under the control of or used by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39386/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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At the request of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland carried out radon surveys at the Department's offices in the State between July 2005 and May 2006. All measurements at the Department's offices were below the Reference Level for radon gas in workplaces as set in the "Radiological Protection Act, 1991, (Ionising Radiation) Order 2000". The Radiological Institute advised that no remedial action was necessary. The only Departmental offices in the State where radon surveys have not been carried out as yet are in Hatch Street and Cumberland Street, Dublin. As radon gas disperses above ground level, it was deemed unnecessary to carry out a radon survey of the Hatch Street office which is on the first floor. The office in Cumberland Street was unoccupied at the time of the earlier survey. However, as this office is now once again in use, it is proposed to ask the Institute to carry out a radon survey there in the near future.