`The expected savings from the re-organisation of local government in Northern Ireland do have appear to have materialised.
Almost half of the north's councils have an average of 120 more workers on their payroll than in 2008, despite claims that the 11 new super councils would bring about huge financial savings.
Twelve former councils, out of 18 local authorities which responded to a Freedom of Information request, had added a total of 1,437 new workers to their payroll up to April before the new arrangements came into place.
Eight councils did not respond to the request.
The figures include casual and temporary staff.
Before the mergers last night, Omagh had an 395 extra workers compared to April 2008, Craigavon had 206 more employees while Belfast had 144.
By contrast, Coleraine Borough Council reduced their headcount by 424 in the years preceding the birth of the Causeway Coast and Glens District Council, while Newtownabbey shed over 250 workers in the same period.
In addition, several councils paid out substantial redundancy payments.
Since 2008, when the announcement of the introduction of 11 councils was made by then Environment Minister Arlene Foster, 287 people have been made redundant by councils across the north, at a cost of over £11 million.
In 2010, Mrs Foster’s successor Edwin Poots claimed that the transition to the super councils could bring about efficiency savings of £438 million over 25 years, an average of £17 million a year.
It was estimated that the cost of implementation would be £178 million.
However, ministers remained tight lipped about how many council jobs were likely to disappear as a result of the change, either prior to the mergers or afterwards.
In response to the Freedom of Information request, only one council, Antrim Borough Council, said it had not made any redundancy payments in the seven years.
Some local authorities had significant redundancy bills, with Belfast City Council spending an average of £1 million per year, at a total of £7.39 million on 148 staff.
Seventy two employees of Belfast City Council left through voluntary redundancy from April 2014 to March 2015 alone, while there were an additional two compulsory redundancies.
A statement from Belfast City Council said that redundancy applications were assessed on the basis that they "would be paid back in 28 months" through savings.
Newtownabbey Borough Council paid out over £1.5 million to 49 staff, an average of £30,000 per employee.
Omagh District Council spent £366,319 on six redundancies, while seven employees of Armagh City Council were paid a total of £441,606.
Lisburn City Council, meanwhile, signed off a £115,129 redundancy payment for just one employee, while Limavady Borough Council paid out £126,380 to a single worker.
Although councils on average dismissed one staff member a year for disciplinary reasons in the seven year period, at least four staff each year were dismissed from Down District Council from 2009 to 2015.
Eight of the north’s previous 26 councils did not respond to the Freedom of Information request, despite there being an obligation to do so within 20 working days.
