Deadly radon gas claims six victims every week on average, yet plans formulated more than 16 years ago to develop a remediation scheme for affected houses have never been implemented.

The Green Party has described as “odd” the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to shut its radon testing laboratory at a time when efforts to raise awareness of the potentially lethal gas are meant to be ramping up.

A serious accident at Sellafield would “pose no immediate health risk” in Ireland, a report from the Environmental Protection Agency has found.

The first of several new generation nuclear power plants in Britain yesterday got the go-ahead from the European Commission in a controversial decision to allow London hand over huge subsidies.