The Minister of State for Electoral Reform has confirmed that changes to the local electoral areas are unlikely to be known before March of next year.
It gives councillors about a year before the next local elections in 2019 to review the changes.
Amendments to the Dail constituencies and local electoral area boundaries are made by the Constituencies Commission after each census taking the new population figures into account.
Minister John Paul Phelan confirmed at the annual conference of the Association of Irish Local Government held in Sligo on Thursday that report on the local areas will be published in March.
Mayor of Sligo, Hubert Keaney says it could mean a reduction in the number of seats in bigger LEAs:
