An Taisce has been attacked by politicians in Co Leitrim for suggesting that it would seek a judicial review of An Bord Pleanála's decision to approve a golf-based leisure scheme at Lough Rynn, former home of the Earls of Leitrim.
Capsivale Ltd, a consortium including the Hanley quarrying group in Co Roscommon, had sought permission to convert the 19th-century mansion into a hotel, develop housing units in its courtyard and an 18-hole golf course in what remains of the estate.
But An Taisce maintains that An Bord Pleanála's ruling, which upheld Leitrim County Council's original decision, was flawed because it failed to take full account of the EU Habitats Directive and the EU Environmental Impact Assessment Directive.
Mr Ian Lumley, the trust's heritage officer, said the board had approved the plan for Lough Rynn even though its own planning inspector had found Capsivale's environmental impact statement (EIS) inadequate because it did not include a bat survey.
Describing Lough Rynn as "a classic bat habitat", he said the board should have required the developers to submit an amended EIS so that mitigation measures could be adequately considered; it was not sufficient to deal with this by way of planning conditions.
"We will be making a complaint to the EU Commission that this decision breaches both the Habitats Directive and the EIA Directive", Mr Lumley said..
"We are also considering obaining a legal opinion regarding [High Court] judicial review proceedings."
Warning that any legal action "could become bogged down in the courts", he appealed to the developers to reconsider their plans, saying that Strokestown Park in Co Roscommon was a prime example of how a historic house could be retained in private hands.
"At the end of the day, all we are looking for is the proper treatment of Lough Rynn", Mr Lumley said. "Its setting is one of the most important romantic picturesque landscapes from the 19th century in Ireland. The only one that compares with it is Crom, in Co Fermanagh."
An Taisce did not believe that golf-based leisure resorts, such as those planned for Carton, in Co Kildare, and Killeen Castle, in Co Meath, could be justified on the basis that they were needed to maintain historic houses of national importance.
"Lough Rynn received substantial grant aid through the International Fund for Ireland to open the garden and parkland to the public, but it was never properly promoted like Strokestown Park.
"The house, though unoccupied, is also in reasonably good condition," he said.
However, An Taisce's continuing opposition has provoked strong local opposition.
According to Mr John Ellis TD (FF), "the bottom line is that if An Bord Pleanála is so praiseworthy as Ian Lumley has so often said in the past, why doesn't he accept this decision?
"It was all right when all the decisions were going his way and he was high in his praise of An Bord Pleanála.
"But when they decided to go ahead and grant the permission, he has to again try and block the economic development of Mohill, and indeed, Leitrim.
"It means that he is trying to kill off the project from going ahead, trying to stop Mohill from developing, and I would say to Mr Lumley that it is time he sat down and worked with the people of Leitrim rather than against them," Mr Ellis told the Leitrim Observer newspaper.
Mr Enda Stenson, an independent county councillor who lives in the Mohill area and has backed the Lough Rynn scheme since it was first proposed said he was "absolutely furious" that An Taisce was considering taking its case to Brussels and the courts.
"Everything that was done by the developers was correct and in order," he maintained.
"We really have to face up to Mr Lumley and An Taisce and do whatever it takes for this development to go ahead. [We must] make a co-ordinated effort to face them down."
Another local councillor, Mr Gerry McGee, said he was "gobsmacked".
He warned that any hold-up could result in the developers pulling out of the south Leitrim project because they would no longer qualify for the Upper Shannon Rural Renewal tax incentive scheme.
However, Mr Lumley defended An Taisce's stance, saying that the development proposed for Lough Rynn "brings to a head the environmental concerns raised by us and others when this ill-advised tax incentive scheme was introduced in 1999".
