The First and Deputy First Ministers have announced they are to begin a consultation process on a complete review of public administration in the North which could see a major overhaul of local administration.
The consultation into the review, hailed as the "father and mother of all reviews into public administration", is to be launched shortly.
The full implementation of its findings is not expected to take place before the Assembly elections in May 2003.
"The Review of Public Administration is a major undertaking to which the Executive will devote a lot of time and effort to ensure proposals come forward which are coherent and designed to improve the service delivered to the citizen," Mr David Trimble and Mr Mark Durkan added.
Among some of the items reviewed will be the future of the North's 26 councils and their powers, the need for five education and library boards as well as for four health boards, and the question of non-elected quangos overseeing many areas of public administration.
The review will also look at practical areas for co-operation on the island of Ireland and at whether useful lessons could be learnt from the organisations of public administration, in the Republic and in Britain.
The relationship between local government and the new institutions established under the Belfast Agreement - the Assembly, Executive, Civic Forum and cross-Border implementation bodies - will also be examined in the review.