THE Burren's longest established visitor centre fears it will be "marginalised" by a deal between the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht and the group opposing the plan for Mullaghmore.
It is believed Mr Higgins's representatives are negotiating with the Burren Action Group to avoid another battle over revised plans for visitor facilities by locating a major centre in Corofin.
Mr Con Farrell, director of the Burren Centre in Kilfenora which celebrated its 21st anniversary last month with a visit from the President, Mrs Robinson - accused the authorities of adopting a "high handed" attitude to its efforts over the years.
"They're talking about where a visitor centre should or should not go, when there's one already there - developed by the local community and run as a nonprofit organisation. Yet it never crossed their minds to come and talk to us," Mr Farrell said.
"It seems grossly unfair to me that the solution they're coming up with to solve the Mullaghmore problem is to give us a few bob to deal with archaeology and architecture, while they move what we've been doing seven miles down the road to Corofin."
The draft management plan for the Burren proposed a multi centred approach to the development of visitor facilities in the area, with Kilfenora, Corofin and Ballyvaughan targeted for development to tell different strands of the story.
"How would the continuity of the story be told? What if you miss one centre, does that mean you miss an integral part of it? They can't just say `you do the flora and fauna' and someone else does `man in the landscape' and it will all be a pretty picture in the end," Mr Farrell said.
But the BAG strongly opposes the plan's suggestion that limited facilities should also be installed on the site of the partially built visitor centre near Mullaghmore - focus of bitter controversy for the past six years.
To end the controversy - and satisfy the High Court, which still has a role in the matter it would appear that Mr Higgins is prepared to agree to the BAG proposal for a new visitor centre in Corofin.
Mr Farrell says: "The plan seems to concentrate on how to deal with the environmental problem of Mullaghmore. But in solving that problem, should they be creating a whole new socioeconomic problem in the area?
"My fear is that a centre would be built in Corofin duplicating what we've been doing in Kilfenora for the past 21 years. And if they go along that route, which seems to be designed around the view from Dublin, it's only going to mean more conflict.
He suggested that the Kilfenora centre and the small centre in Corofin should be upgraded and expanded rather than replaced.
