Plans have been lodged with Clare County Council to develop Pol an Ionain cave - which reputedly contains the largest free-hanging stalactite in the world - as a tourist attraction.
The development also includes plans to develop a visitor centre with interpretative facilities, a shop, restaurant, a sewage treatment plant and space for 70 cars on a six-acre site at Craggydorryan West, Doolin.
According to the applicant, Ms Helen Browne, of Roadford, Doolin: "We intend to open the cave as a show-cave to enable the public see one of the wonders of the world, which looks as spectacular as the Cliffs of Moher."
However, the plan is to face opposition from caving groups and An Taisce, which fear that the development of the cave will endanger the seven-metre stalactite.
Discovered by a caver in 1952, it is located 150 feet underground.
Currently the cave is relatively inaccessible to the public. Sight of the stalactite is available only to pot-holers and cavers.
As part of the plan before the council, the applicants, John and Helen Browne, propose to excavate a 97-metre tunnel from the surface to access the Pol an Ionain cave 65 metres from the stalactite through drilling and low-level blasting.
Planning was granted by Clare County Council in 1991 to the Brownes and subsequently upheld at An Bord Pleanala on appeal in 1992, despite objections from caving groups.
However, the Brownes failed to develop the plan in 1992 after becoming embroiled in a High Court dispute with a local farmer over a contractual dispute in relation to lands near the Pol an Ionain cave.
An out-of-court settlement last February allowed the Brownes to develop the cave for the public.
However, the Brownes have been forced to reapply for planning after the initial planning permission lapsed, as is common practice, after five years.
In 1992, the appeals board ruled that the proposal to develop the cave "would not be likely to threaten the safety, stability or continued development of the major stalactite in the cave of Pol an Ionain and would otherwise be in accordance with the proper planning and development of the area".
Ms Browne said yesterday: "Through immense research carried out on the impact of the development of the cave, we were able to answers questions raised by objectors to the satisfaction of both Clare County Council and An Bord Pleanala that the plans posed no danger to the stalactite."
Opposition to the plan remains, however.
Already An Taisce has written to Clare County Council requesting it not to permit the development of the Pol an Ionain cave in the absence of an appropriate scientific assessment of the possible impacts. Mr Tony Lowes, chairman of An Taisce's natural environmental group, said: "Structural damage, acidic erosion through changes in humidity and CO2 levels, and the impact on the delicate hydrology of the karst limestone which supports the Pol an Ionain stalactite, all require independent examination by different scientific disciplines."
He added: "To authorise any excavation without these studies would be irresponsible and could endanger an irreplaceable national treasure."
Mr Dermot McKinney, spokesman for the Pol an Ionain Action Group, said the submission of an Environment Impact Statement (EIS) by the applicants on the development of the cave should at the very least be necessary if the planning application is to be considered.
In a separate submission, the University of Bristol's spelaeology society, which has published two books on caving in the Burren, The Caves of Co Clare and The Caves of North West Clare, states: "It is our opinion that any attempt to develop this cave to allow public access will expose this remarkable formation to a number of significant dangers.
"Whilst such threats may be acceptable or manageable in lesser cases, we contend that this particular stalactite is too rare and valuable to be exposed to any such dangers."
A decision is expected on June 7th.