County Wicklow main beneficiary of goverment reform plans

County Wicklow is set to be one of the main beneficiaries of Environment Minister Phil Hogan's local government reform plans.

Wicklownews.net understands that the county council will see a small increase in the number of council seats it will be given.

It's believed that a number of seven seat wards will replace the local town councils.

A source explained:
"The department has looked at Wicklow and the latest population trends and it has been decided to give the county more seats to reflect the numbers living there."

Minister Hogan is set to announce the changes this week - which will see hundreds of town councils being scrapped.

It was also revealed that a referendum will be held in Dublin in 2014 to decide whether to create the position of a directly electedmayor, similar to London's Boris Johnson and New York's Michael Bloomberg.