The Government has come under fire for failing to use international powers put it place to protect the world's best-known heritage sites.
According to An Taisce the authorities have the second-worst record in Europe when it comes to having their main heritage spots entered on to an official list drafted by Unesco, and operated for more than 30 years.
Only Luxembourg has been slower than Ireland in registering sites with the cultural and educational arm of the United Nations.
The historical lures on the list are the Boyne Valley, which has been there for a decade, and Co Kerry's Skellig Michael early Christian settlement, which was added eight years ago.
The Unesco index contains a total of 730 heritage locations from 124 countries, including well-known names like the Great Barrier Reef, in Australia, America's Grand Canyon, Egypt's pyramids and India's Taj Mahal. The feeling in An Taisce is that more Irish places should be there.
Ian Lumley, the organisation's heritage officer, said the Irish record in the area was "tardy and inadequate".
He added "It is a very poor reflection on the state's heritage policy that no site has been put forward for nomination in the past eight years."
During the period since 1995, Spain has entered 23 sites onto the UN list and the United Kingdom 10.
A tentative group of nominations have been prepared by the Government, among them the Burren, Co Clare, Co Kerry's Killarney National Park, Ceide Fields, of Co Mayo, the Rock of Cashel, Co Tipperary, and the sixth-century ecclesiastical ruins at Clonmacnoise, Co Offaly.
The Unesco list is of areas considered to be of "outstanding universal value," and is subject to regular inspection to ensure their protection is maintained on a regular basis.
The suspicion is that the Government fears failure on that score because of a general lack of resources, a development that could lead to international embarrassment.
Mr Lumley asserted: "The failure to nominate any further sites questions our credibility as a country which has signed up to the aims of Unesco."
PA