'Eco-tourism' resort seen as threat to bats

A rare species of bat could be put at risk by a proposed €150 million "eco-tourism" resort beside the Lough Key Forest Park in Boyle, Co Roscommon.

Roscommon County Council is expected to decide within weeks whether to approve the development, which includes 300 holiday cottages, a 100-bedroom hotel and leisure centre and an 18-hole golf course.

Concerns about Lesser Horseshoe Bats, which inhabit the site, have been expressed in a submission to the council by Mr Ian Hester, Knock, Lanesboro, Co Longford. He argued that the Government was obliged under the Wildlife Act to safeguard the ecological integrity of four named sub-sites.

A Canadian consortium has lodged three planning applications in respect of the 250-acre site adjacent to Lough Key, formerly the Rockingham estate, seat of the King Harmon family.

Newfound Consortium has applied for permission for 199 two-storey holiday cottages, a golf course, clubhouse and 138 car-parking spaces. Another application is for 78 holiday homes, tennis courts and children's play area, and a third is for a luxury hotel and 27 holiday homes.

The Cavan-Leitrim Environmental Awareness Network has listed 14 concerns in a two-page submission to the county council. The group said there had been no attempt to address the potential serious impact on the lake itself and it also warned of the possible "destruction of a unique parkland landscape".

The proposals have been welcomed by the Lough Key Forest Park Action group.

An Taisce said three separate planning applications was unacceptable.