Plans to build 300 luxury holiday homes, a 100-suite luxury hotel with spa and conference facilities, a championship golf course and restaurants and entertainment facilities have been knocked down because of fears for the habitats of the three species.

The resort, proposed by Newfound Consortium, a company established by Newfound Group International, which developed the award -winning Humber Valley development in Canada, was to have been located in and around the scenic Lough Key Forest Park.

An Bord Pleanala rejected the project on the grounds that it would "adversely affect the habitat of the area, especially that of the Lesser Horseshoe Bat, the pine martin and the red squirrel."

It also concluded that the proposed golf course "would represent a significant intrusion into the historic landscape" and that, without a hydrogeological study, it was unknown whether the project would be a "potential threat to the underlying groundwater".

The main opponents of the proposed development were An Taisce, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and the Cavan/Leitrim Environmental Awareness Network (CLEAN).

An Taisce said in a statement that An Bord Pleanala's decision was "a serious indictment of the competence of Roscommon Co Council in protecting public health, and meeting our European Treaty obligations for the protection of habitats and landscape."

Newfound Group chief executive office Brian Dobbin said he was "deeply disappointed and upset" with the board's decision. "It appears that a very small minority are in control of the development planning in the country, and it will be very difficult to attract international projects of this magnitude until that is fixed, " said Dobbin, who was born in Ireland.

"We will be focusing on the myriad of other more suitable locations available to us internationally, " he added.

The decision also annoyed local Fianna Fail TD Michael Finneran, who said he was "extremely disappointed that such a major tourism development product, with the potential for 300 jobs and an investment of 200m has been lost."

But the campaign group CLEAN, who opposed the proposed scheme on the grounds of its potential threat to drinking water, welcomed the decision "All councillors who voted to proceed with the development, and all TDs who supported it, have to be asked: 'Did they care for the health of their constituents?"

the group said in a statement.