Well, it's finally happened and the landlords at the NIO have finally, after a number of years of talking and more talking, taken the bull by the horns and decided that things need to change in the North of Ireland.
You may ask, what am I talking about? Simple: the Review of Public Administration and how public services will be streamlined across all sectors.
There will be fewer councillors, and politicians will not be allowed to double-job. That makes sense. How can a councillor be an MLA and vice versa? How can you do both jobs and how, when the Assembly finally gets up and running again, can an individual deal with potential conflicts of interest? The answer is simple: they can't. They are being greedy and certainly in any meetings that I attended the people who defended double-jobbing most were the very ones doing it.
Better still, many of the MLAs who were also councillors were the very ones who were hesitant to improve the situation in local councils, including making the job of a councillor more affordable.
Anyhow, some of those who will be getting a retirement package at the next local government elections will not be missed, as many constituents don't know who their councillors are.
In addition to this, the number of councils will be getting smaller. This is a sensible thing. I am baffled how the North of Ireland got away with having 26 councils for a population of less than two million people.
We will hear the claptrap of a loss of local identity. How come, when most of the councils were formed 30 years ago and have in very general terms spent most of those years fighting over power and whether nationalists or unionists controlled them? In fact, when power-sharing was finally agreed in some of the more enlightened domes of delight, it was due to a shift in power away from unionists.
The downside of the new councils is that west of the Bann will become permanently green and east of the Bann, orange. Belfast will be one of those rare exceptions, where, depending on how the political wind is blowing, power will be shared out as best as possible.
What will become very interesting is where the new town halls will be located? Will Lisburn become the capital of the kingdom of Down? How can the animosity between Enniskillen and Omagh be resolved when they become one council? Remember the hospital debate and the rise of independents in the Omagh area as a consequence of this?
Good old Belfast won't be changing very much, in political terms anyhow.
It's good to see the government has seen common sense in respect of the merger of the numerous health trusts in the city. But the only problem is that vital monies for families and the vulnerable in the community could, and most likely will, be guzzled up by the large hospitals who are not in a very healthy financial state.
One body will control education across the North – that is sensible and will undoubtedly pay dividends in the long-term.
The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools has played an invaluable role in the education of children down the years and I'm thankful it will continue to exist.
Another issue that has blighted the landscape of the North for many, many years is the number of quangos. These bodies cover all aspects of daily living and impact on all of our lives.
One huge issue with these bastions of privilege is that they are the reserve of the chosen few and undemocratic in their creation and composition. It's no small mercy that local landlord Hain has seen the sense to get rid of many of them.
This society needs to be opened up to the wider community and the composition of any public body should reflect the community it serves.
I have no issue with experienced professionals serving on such bodies but they should be interviewed for the post in order to bring a sense of being informed on issues. Then representatives from the community should also be considered.
Husbands and wives, sons, daughters or relatives and friends of those in positions of influence should not be deemed automatic choices for public bodies. Nor should the political parties be allowed to unduly influence selection procedures.
The time has come for change, and with that change the time has also come for transparency and accountability in how this area is run, and by whom it is run.
