The Government policy of giving local councillors responsibility for the protection of our built heritage will ensure that "nothing much will be left", according to the Co Sligo association of An Taisce.
The statement follows a decision by Sligo County Council to demolish a Georgian farmhouse in Easkey. A report by a conservation architect had recommended that the house be retained and re-used but another report by a structural engineer said it should be demolished.
The council is now to "replicate" the house with a two storey dwelling on the site as part of a housing scheme. However, detailed plans have not yet been drawn up.
Mr Nicholas Prins of the Co Sligo association of An Taisce said Government policy in the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act 2000 of putting responsibility for the built heritage solely in the hands of members of the local authorities had proved futile.
He said this was in "marked contrast" to the systems in place for the protection of both archaeological and natural heritage, which were governed by statute law, and the expertise of Duchas. In the case of natural heritage, EU directives also applied.
"To allow the rapidly declining stock of our post-17th century vernacular architecture to depend for its survival on the vagaries of local authority clientilist politics is to ensure that nothing much will be left," Mr Prins, who is the manager of Lissadell Estate, said.
He called for the Act to be amended, saying it was urgent given the pace of development of the built environment. The examples of the National Monuments and Wildlife Acts should be followed, he said.
Only two Labour members of Sligo County Council supported a motion for the house to be retained and incorporated into the housing development. Some councillors opposed to its retention claimed it would be used to accommodate ex-offenders or homeless people.
At its May meeting, the council deferred a decision on demolition. A report prepared by conservation planner/architect Mr John Cronin said the house, Ivy House, was a fine example of an early 19th century farmhouse and was important on a number of levels. It provided a setting for the adjacent courthouse, a building of regional significance, he said. Mr Cronin said the building was significant in its own right and it was likely that it would warrant a rating of local importance in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Its most critical heritage value came from its landmark character and he believed it could be repaired and adapted to a new use.
A report by a consultant engineer, Mr Patrick Healy, of Concannon Healy and Heffernan, concluded that the building was derelict and in an advanced state of ruin, that it was unsafe and had long since "reached the end of its useful life". He recommended demolition.
An archaelogist is to be employed during the demolition because a piece of cut limestone, dating from the late medieval period, which may have come from the ruins of a nearby abbey, was found in the walls of an annexe.
Mr Prins said he believed there was "a paucity of expertise in dealing with old buildings" in many parts of Ireland.
He said it was "perfectly possible to re-use just about every building with the right technology and right approach", but it required the "right outlook".