A group of local councillors in Athlone are seeking to halt work on a new temporary accommodation facility for up to 1,000 asylum seekers in the town.
Work on developing the new centre at Lissywollen started last week.
Several councillors from Athlone-Moate Municipal District held a meeting yesterday evening to discuss the plan.
The town's mayor, Fianna Fáil Councillor Frankie Keena, described the move as "reckless and unacceptable" and he said public representatives had been blindsided by it.
He said councillors had been "left completely in the dark" and only found out about this plan on 7 October, which he said was "an insult to the role of local government".
Cllr Keena stressed that Athlone has opened its doors and welcomed more than 2,000 international protection applicants, as well as beneficiaries of temporary protection.
He said this latest move would only serve to support "segregation and not integration".
Moving 1,000 asylum seekers to the town would increase the population of the town by 5%, he said.
"There is no logic. The plan is vastly underdeveloped. These people and the people of Athlone deserve better," Cllr Keena said.
The meeting held yesterday heard that councillors are now seeking to use a legal provision, under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, to halt work on the site.
Independent Ireland representative Paul Hogan said the ministerial order directing work on the temporary accommodation in Athlone relied on Section 181 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 and this allows the Minister to sidestep the usual planning process for certain projects.
However, Cllr Hogan claims that this section does not apply to certain other pieces of legislation, specifically local councillors' reserved function number 39, as outlined under the Local Government Reform Act 2014.
In a statement he said councillor want to use their reserved function to make an order "prohibiting the erection or retention of temporary dwellings".
"We, as a group of councillors today, are proposing that we move our reserved function, and that we make an order prohibiting the erection of the temporary dwellings as it is our view that their erection is prejudicial to the amenities of the locality and interferes unreasonably with that area,"
"We also move that this order applies to specified land under which construction is currently taking place," said Cllr Hogan.
The action proposed by Cllr Hogan was seconded by Cllr Keena and unanimously supported by the other councillors present.
In a statement, the Department of Integration said the Government was "making every effort to accommodate people seeking international protection against a backdrop of unprecedented demand" and that the Athlone centre was in line with the Government's strategy to source and develop accommodation and create a more sustainable system.
It said work on the site will begin in the coming weeks and the first residents, who will be male, are to be accommodated around five weeks after it starts.
The department said: "Accommodation at Midlands Accommodation Centre will be provided in phases, starting with approximately 100 residents.
"Over several phases, it will increase to up to 1,000 residents.
"Accommodation will initially be provided in tented structures, with modular accommodation to follow at a later stage."
It added that the centre will be support by an extensive programme of local engagement.
