Ireland has come last in an evaluation by the World Wildlife Federation of how well EU countries are protecting their species and habitats.
Ms Sandra Jen, of the WWF, said lack of political will to implement fully the European Commission's directive on habitats was one of the issues that emerged during the evaluation.
There were too few protected sites and the environmental legislation was inadequate, she said. Ms Jen added that although the Republic benefited from structural funds, these were not being used in a constructive way towards sustainable development.
An Taisce has called on the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands to speed up the process of protecting species and habitats before the European Commission imposes penalties on regional aid.
Progress on the implementation of the Habitats Directive is presented as a 30km race in the WWF report, entitled Race to Protect Europe's Natural Heritage.
The report is based on the answers to a questionnaire which looked at legal aspects of implementation of the Habitats Directive, which protects habitats and species and puts plans into practice. EU member-states were given points or "kilometres" for each question answered positively. Of the 14 states examined, the Republic of Ireland is in last place, with 8km out of 30km. Just ahead of Ireland were Greece on 12km and Germany, Spain and Portugal on 13km.
While Denmark came out on top with 21km, the WWF said all the countries questioned were behind on habitat and species protection. Every deadline for implementing the Habitats Directive, adopted in 1992, was broken, it said. "The longer it takes to finish the race to implement Europe's most important nature conservation law, the longer habitats and species will be vulnerable to inappropriate construction projects," Ms Jen said.
Ms Shirley Clerkin of An Taisce said: "It is regrettable that once again Ireland is shown to be not playing its part to protect habitats and species. "The Government has received warnings and recommendations from the European Commission, the Advocate General, the European Court of Justice, the Irish non-governmental organisations and now from the WWF," she said.
"It is time they heeded the advice and entered into the spirit of the Habitats Directive, which has at its very core sustainable development and quality of life."