A local community in south Kerry is to lobby the Taoiseach this week for support for a European Geopark designation.
The communities of Sneem, Castlecove and Caherdaniel, which take in a 300 km sq area of the Ring of Kerry, where Mr Ahern is currently on holidays, have earmarked the prestigious European Geoparks Network designation as a way of saving their local economy, and ensuring educational tours will head for the area and that the tour buses which speed past on the Ring of Kerry will no longer be in such a hurry.
The results of almost two years effort, including commissioned reports and giant maps, are being displayed in a cottage in Sneem's south square.
The geopark concept is the new environmental term, superceding that of eco park.
Unlike these designations, the geopark concept aims to celebrate four billion years of the Earth's history and to integrate geological heritage, in particular with regional development.
The Europe-wide designation of European Geopark was put in place in 2000, and since February 2004 a worldwide designation of UNESCO Geopark or World Geopark has been in existence.
The Republic has just one geopark, at Copper Coast, Waterford, where copper and silver mining are celebrated.
The North also has a geopark, taking in Marble Arch, Co Fermanagh.
In Sneem, a giant map, not yet published but 30 years in the making at the Department of Geology UCC, details the geological rock formation of the Sneem-Castlecove-Caherdaniel area, where the effects of glaciation and the Earth's fold lines are clearly visible.
"This is a pristine fossil alpine glaciated landscape which ranks among the best of Europe," a consultant's report commissioned by the area's rural development body found.
The folds of the Earth are shown in old red sandstone around Castlecove, such as probably are only seen in the Grand Canyon in the US.
Features run from corrie lakes high on the south peaks of the Macgillycuddy's Reeks to coral beaches on the coastline.
A drowned forest has been discovered, the Kenmare Bay is in reality a drowned river valley, and as well as bog all sorts of habitat provide cover for the blanket of flowers one sees this time of year.
Some 15 months of preparation has already gone into the effort and this much and more again is required, said Mr Joe Burke, community development manager with the area's local development body, the IRD (Integrated Resource Development).
The south Kerry "trinity" would offer much more than most European Geoparks - it would include monuments like Staigue Fort, the fish in the sea, and some of the greatest concentration of rock painting in Europe, along with rare plants and animals.
Ironically, one of the issues for which this area on the Ring of Kerry is the frontline - the battle of one-off houses in the countryside - will also have to be faced up to.
Sneem has lost 12 per cent of its population since the last census. The figures for other pockets here are even worse and population density is one of the lowest in western Europe.
Mr Tim O'Sullivan, a local teacher and the chairman of the IRD, is at the frontline of the battle to allow more housing, which he says would bring more people.
"A mind change is at the heart of the communities' bid to become a geopark," Mr O'Sullivan said.
"We were brought up that as quickly as we could we should try to get away from the poor land. Now we must learn to see the extraordinary value of this land".
High-profile names are already behind the bid - from the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, to a plethora of tourism, heritage and third-level institutions.