Everyone agrees on one thing: Kilmore Quay, with its unique cottage architecture, unspoilt character and coastal location, is a national treasure.
But local residents are at loggerheads over how its particular charm can be maintained while allowance is also made for its development as a living, prosperous village.
One concerned group made up of local residents and people from outside Kilmore Quay says proposals currently before Wexford County Council would result in this fishing village being "swamped" with holiday homes.
Others say that while this group is organised and vocal, the majority of those living locally have confidence in the council's approach to Kilmore Quay's future development.
Opinions diverged initially over an application by a local businessman and farmer, Mr Noel Howlin, for outline planning permission for 34 holiday homes on a four-acre infill site in the centre of the village.
Permission for 30 houses was granted by Wexford County Council. But this was overturned by An Bord Pleanala, partly on the grounds that the development would be premature in the absence of an area action plan for Kilmore Quay.
Such a plan is now being drawn up for inclusion next year in an overall county development plan.
The plan being drafted by a Dublin consultancy firm, Brady Shipman Martin (BSM), would allow for the development of Mr Howlin's site and several others in and around the village.
Just how much development would ensue is not clear as no housing density is specified. But a group opposed to the plan says the BSM proposals would pave the way for between 400 and 500 new houses in a village with a current population of 406.
The county council's special developments manager, Mr Adrian Doyle, said he could not "categorically deny" this, as the plan would cover a five-year period.
One of the opposing group, local schoolteacher Ms Lucy Moore, says this scale of development would ruin Kilmore Quay's maritime culture and make the village tourism-dependent.
"Fishing provides a decent living all year round, but that kind of development would swamp those who live here on a full-time basis and drive up property prices, so that young families coming on could not possibly afford to live here.
"It would also, of course, be a carrot for those of us who live here to sell our homes and move a few miles inland, and then 10
years down the road, what would be here?"
However, supporters of the plan say it is the very lack of development in Kilmore Quay which is pushing up the prices of the few properties which come on the market and making it impossible for young local people to buy homes in the area.
Mr Howlin says nobody wants to see the village turn into a "honky-tonk type of place, but neither do we want to see it as an exclusive village for the elite. There must be an in-between which would be of benefit to all the commercial interests and the residents of the village."
While Mr Howlin has an undoubted vested interest, he is supported by others including restaurant owner Mr Nicky Cullen. He says it is an over-reliance on the fishing industry, without developing a complementary source of income from tourism, which could cause difficulties in the future.
Mr Cullen and Mr Howlin support the thrust of the BSM draft plan, which was unveiled to residents in October. The group in which Ms Moore is involved has put forward an alternative plan, drawn up by architect and planner Dr Pat Dargan, a lecturer in the Dublin Institute of Technology.
Both plans have similar aspirations, to strike a balance between development and maintaining the village's character. The Dargan plan supporters say the BSM document would deliver the opposite result.
This Dargan group does seem to be in a minority, however. A submission by the group to the county council at the end of October had 20 signatories, six of whom do not live full-time in Kilmore Quay.
The final draft plan is to be put on display for three months early next year. Further submissions can be taken and amendments made before a final decision is made by the county council.