Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that seeps up from the ground and can build up indoors. The Irish Reference Level for homes is 200 Bq/m³, and the EPA says radon is linked to around 350 lung cancer cases in Ireland each year. You cannot see or smell it, and the only way to know a house’s level is to measure it. Here is how to check before you commit.
What radon is and what the Reference Level means
Radon comes from uranium in rock and soil. Outdoors it disperses; inside a house it can accumulate, particularly where air is drawn up from the ground through floors and gaps. Ireland’s Reference Level is 200 becquerels per cubic metre (Bq/m³). A result at or above it is the point where action to reduce radon is recommended. Radon levels vary house to house, even between neighbours, so a map can tell you the odds but not the answer for one building.
Where radon is more common
The EPA’s 2022 radon risk map predicts about 170,000 Irish homes are above the Reference Level, and defines a High Radon Area as one where more than 1 in 10 homes is predicted to exceed it. The measured results by county show how much it varies:
Read these percentages carefully
They are shares of homes tested, not of all homes. Households in high-radon areas were encouraged to test, so the figures overstate county prevalence. The EPA’s modelled national figure is 9%. Use the table to see which areas deserve a test, not to rule a house in or out.
How to test a house for radon
- Ask the seller first. Has the house ever been tested, when, and what was the result? Ask for the paperwork, and whether a mitigation system was fitted afterwards.
- Use a long-term test. Radon fluctuates daily and seasonally, so the EPA recommends detectors left in place for around three months rather than a quick reading. Check the current guidance on the EPA’s radon pages before you order.
- Start with an address-level check. An Eircode check shows the radon picture for that location. It is a good way to decide whether a measurement is worth arranging before you are sale agreed.
If a house has a high result
A reading above the Reference Level does not make a house unsaleable. Radon can be reduced, commonly by drawing air from under the floor and venting it outside, and a retest afterwards confirms it worked. What matters for a buyer is the sequence: get the measurement or the seller’s records, ask a competent contractor to quote for any work, and factor that into your offer. Your solicitor and surveyor can help weigh it against the rest of the property.
Radon is one of 18 checks in every report
A PropertyPack report covers radon for any Eircode alongside 17 other official checks, with a free snapshot in about a minute. Browse county results from Galway to Dublin, or see where radon sits in the buying checklist.
About this article
Written by the PropertyPack.ie team and published 19 October 2026. Figures render directly from the official datasets behind our reports, so they update when the underlying record does. General information for Irish home buyers, not legal, financial or tax advice.
