A proposal to develop a private deep-water harbour at Doolin, Co Clare, is being resisted by local people who feel the use of a company-owned facility would be restricted.
But Doolin Ferries has said it wants to protect its business and, for safety reasons, separate it from the growing leisure activities at the existing pier or any new public pier.
The company, which runs a service from the village to the three Aran Islands from April to September, has applied for a foreshore licence to build a 300-foot pier.
It has also applied to the county council for retention of a car-park and yesterday it applied for permission to build offices, public toilets and a waiting room at the site, which is within 200 yards of the existing pier. This pier cannot be used by larger craft at low tide.
Company representatives will meet local people on Monday to try to resolve the issue which has been complicated by a land-ownership dispute.
The Aran Islands routes are becoming increasing competitive. This summer Inis Mor Ferries began competing directly with Island Ferries on the lucrative Inis Mor route from Rossaveal in Co Galway.
Meanwhile, Doolin Ferries, which registered a profit of £232,654 in 1999, is under pressure from the Department of the Marine to cease the practice of transferring passengers from small boats to ferries during low tide periods.
A Department spokesman said it was a public-safety issue and a ferry company operating to the Blasket Islands from Dun Chaoin in Co Kerry had been advised to cease the practice this summer.
In 1992 Doolin Ferries was given 10 years to stop the practice. By next August the five-boat company will not get its licence renewed if the practice continues. It plans to have the new pier built by then.
"You cannot run a service here in Doolin on a tidal basis. We could relocate to Liscannor or Ballyvaughan but we do not want to do that. The trade has been built up here over the past 32 years," Mr Bill O'Brien, a company director, said.
He added that the company would spend up to £5 million developing the new facilities, which could be used by leisure craft when not in use by Doolin Ferries.
Competitors would not be allowed to use it. "You have to get a return on your investment. We cannot build a house for another man to live in," he said.
The proposed location for the new pier is one for which grant aid has been offered to Clare County Council by the Department if a public pier is built.
"Clare County Council's attitude has to be ascertained. Whether it is the county council or the ferry company, it will require foreshore approval," the Department spokesman said
In the meantime, the Department has put up £60,000 to the council's £20,000 for a feasibility study to be carried out on the development of a new public harbour.
Tenders from consultancy companies are being sought.
Many local people are behind the public pier proposal. Mr Mattie Ryan said £3,800 had been raised locally to help promote the campaign. He said a public deep-water pier would benefit the village, allowing fishing boats and leisure craft to operate there at all times. He added that people did not want to be beholden to Doolin Ferries if it controlled the only deep-water pier in the area.
"We want to provide a deep-water pier for them and for anybody else," he said.
Mr O'Brien said jet skis, leisure boats and swimmers had all made the use of a public pier unsafe for commercial users.
"You cannot run a safe ferry operation out of a single public pier where you have multiple users," he said.