The Government is to press ahead with plans to amalgamate Galway city and county councils.

The Minister of State for Local Government has presented a report to Government backing a single Galway authority.

John Paul Phelan said he intends to publish a legislative provision for the appointment of a single chief executive with dual responsibility for Galway city and county councils.

This person will be charged with initiating administrative integration across the two local authorities.

The move follows an expert review into the proposed amalgamation, which was first mooted in 2015.

That report - published in April - said next year’s local elections should be to the separate authorities, with the elected members then combining into a new joint council no later than 2021.

It found that a unified local authority for Galway city and county would combine the respective strengths of the two existing councils in terms of resources, staff, and expertise.

The expert group said a single council would drive the development of Galway and recommended legislation to allow for the amalgamation to be passed as a matter of urgency.

The first elections to the new unified authority would be held in 2024.

However, Fianna Fáil is opposed to a combined local authority and is unlikely to vote in favour of the proposal in the Dáil.

Many members of the existing local authorities in Galway are also sceptical about the benefits of the move.