Interest groups and a cross-party coalition of TDs in the mid-west say they are sceptical about the effects on Shannon Airport of Government plans to partly privatise Aer Rianta.
In advance of an expected Cabinet decision on the issue next week, opposition centres on the belief that the Co Clare airport, managed along with Cork and Dublin by Aer Rianta, would become a backwater if compared to Dublin Airport by private investors.
"The one thing that has surprised me is the extent of the constituency that was represented," says Seamus O'Sullivan, director of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, of a recent meeting on the issue.
Tom Kirby, director of the Mid-West Regional Authority, says the analyses by Aer Rianta last summer and, more recently, by Government-appointed consultants, Warburg Dillon Read, ignore the National Development Plan's commitment to balanced regional development.
In a letter to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, he describes a proposed investment of £374 million for Dublin Airport - 72 per cent of a £520 million plan over four years - as "not acceptable" when compared to a 28 per cent share £145.5 million) divided between Shannon and Cork.
The purpose of the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of Aer Rianta is to generate funding for future development at Dublin Airport, he says.
"The view of the members is that an IPO will give a private monopoly to those who are only interested in a commercial return on their investment," the letter adds.
Mr Ahern met the two Clare TDs, Brendan Daly and Tony Killeen, and the Limerick West TD, Michael Collins, last week.
Des O'Malley, a Limerick East TD and the former Progressive Democrats leader, says he is "terrified" of any decision to sell off part of Aer Rianta, saying it would be irrevocable and would inevitably lead to the company's full privatisation.
"If the wrong decision is made in the next week or two, it will have appalling consequences not just for years to come but for decades to come."
He favours clarification on the future of Shannon and Cork before privatisation is considered.
Along with local business people and his constituency colleagues, Michael Collins and the Minister of State, Willie O'Dea, he backs an independent management structure - citing Prestwick Airport in Scotland as a model - which would allow Shannon to compete with, in particular, Dublin by developing European routes with low-cost carriers. "It could be the big gateway for tourism into the west of Ireland."
The Labour party TD in Limerick East, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, favours local management in tandem with continued Government support of airports.
Mr Daly, meanwhile, prefers to be guided by Aer Rianta management, which favours an initial 49 per cent flotation, in contrast to the Minister for Public Enterprise, who has indicated an initial 30 per cent privatisation. "I would certainly feel that if you have a smaller flotation of 30 per cent or so, the attraction will not be there for people who want to invest to get involved," Mr Daly said.
While there would be opposition within Aer Rianta to privatisation, the Fine Gael TD in Clare, Mr Donal Carey, believes that older workers, many of whom are based in Shannon, would take the flotation shilling.
He says successive governments have run Aer Rianta down by taking out surpluses, including profits made in Shannon. Now, until the infrastructure is brought up to standard, the airport should not be introduced to full competition. "This whole business is an emotive issue. . . If the proposal was something that would give you confidence, you would not have any objection."
Having a Minister from the area will strengthen the region's hand in the current controversy. Ms de Valera, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, said she would bring the views of the area to the Cabinet next week.
To ignore the concerns could result in the emergence of more independent candidates in the next general election, says Ms Patricia McCarthy, the chairwoman of Shannon Town Commissioners. Following the dilution of the Shannon stopover status and the loss of intra-EU duty-free sales, she warns that people in the region are seeing no correspondence between how they vote and how their lives are managed.
"People will either get so incensed that they will group together and put up a candidate, or they will turn their backs on democracy altogether," she says.