Published Monday, 14 June 2010
It is now looking likely that there will be elections to all 26 council areas next year after talks between Sinn Fein and the DUP were deadlocked again on Monday night.
Among the issues on the table was whether a reduction in councils should happen next year, in 2015 or not at all.
In March 2008, the Executive agreed a cost-cutting plan to reduce the number of local authorities by 2011.
On Monday night, Sinn Fein, Alliance and SDLP ministers all voted in favour of the 11 'supercouncil' model, but the three DUP ministers voted against.
Last week, one of the longest ministerial Executive meetings into the issue had already ended without agreement.
Ahead of the latest round of talks, Minister Edwin Poots and Sinn Fein MLAs clashed in the assembly, accusing each other of blocking reform, with Mr Poots claiming the opportunity to save £400m had so far been missed.
Mr Poots told the Assembly: "The caveman mentality of not moving things forward is why we are where we are with the RPA (Review of Public Administration) and other parties are blocking and blocking and blocking again.
"Whenever facts are put to them that there are savings that can be made, there are benefits that can be derived and that can be delivered to the public all we get is 'well we don't want to change, we are afraid of change,' I am not afraid of change and I am fed up with other people attempting to block change," he said.
How councils pay for services, how they are funded and the centralisation of processes like dealing with waste have been in dispute between central and local government for months.
Resolving whether Dunmurry, with its mainly nationalist population, is inside or outside a Belfast supercouncil has been another sticking point, as it could leave the city with a nationalist majority.
Mr Poots said the current proposals rejected methods of collaboration which could have saved £400m but claimed measures to improve cooperation could be taken with or without a reduction in the number of councils.
Almost £10m has already been spent preparing for the changes.
Sinn Fein's Mitchel McLaughlin asked the Assembly: "When will the minister accept the reality that the RPA process must go ahead and that to continue to sustain the 26-county model is clearly not value for money?"
Mr Poots said proposals had been put by his predecessor Sammy Wilson a year-and-a-half ago.
"The only reason Mr Deputy Speaker that these policy proposals have not been consulted on is that the member's own party, the deputy First Minister's office, has held that back," he said.
"I will not take lectures from the member opposite about who has been holding things back when it is very clear that this policy document has been held back by his party and his party alone," he added.