Two days have been set aside in Omagh College next Monday and Tuesday, 15th and 16th January for public hearings into the proposed realignment, and in some cases, the renaming, of wards as part of the Boundary Commissioner's brief in the wake of the amalgamation of the existing 26 District Councils into seven 'super' Councils, and the proposed boundaries of the new West super Council.

Barring a u-turn by the Assembly, the 'super seven' will begin to operate from 2009. They are as follows:

1. Antrim, Carrickfergus, Lisburn City and Newtownabbey; 2. Ards, Castlereagh, Down, and North Down; 3. Armagh City and District, Banbridge, Craigavon, and Newry/Mourne; 4. Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine, Larne, and Moyle; 5. Belfast; 6. Derry, Limavady, Magherafelt, and Strabane; 7. ('West') Fermanagh, Omagh, Dungannon/South Tyrone, and Cookstown.

Given the attachment of people here to their parishes, and the ongoing Fermanagh versus Tyrone sparring arising from the vexed issue of the location of the new hospital, there are certain to be plenty of animated objections when people here speak against the proposed ward changes.

They can be looked up on the internet, on the Boundary Commissioner's website, www.lgbc-ni.org or they can be viewed on hard copy in the Townhall or in the local library. By keying in your postcode, after accessing Maps and then Interactive Maps on the website, a householder can bring up an aerial photograph of their ward and, by clicking, find out what their ward name is and how many are on the register.

Given the fact that the current 582 electoral wards across Northern Ireland have been reduced to 420, in line with 60 wards for each of the seven new super Councils, it is inevitable that some, it is proposed, should disappear.

In his foreword to the proposed changes, the Boundary Commissioner, Richard Hill Mackenzie explains that in determining the number of boundaries of wards, he had regard to the size, population and physical diversity of the district as well as the proper representation of the rural and urban electorate within the district.

"I have given considerable weight to the requirement under the (Boundaries) Order whereby the number of electors in each district were, as far as practicable, substantially the same. This principle of electoral equality has been fundamental to the way I have formulated my recommendations for ward boundaries", he added.

Mr Mackenzie said he had avoided any changes to townland boundaries as much as he could to achieve that electoral equality, and where he has done that, it was to correct defacements to take advantage of new housing, etc.

"In other words, where a more identifiable boundary exists, for example, a road line in proximity to the townland boundary and there is an immediate effect on the electorate, I have tended to favour the more identifiable line".

In his recommendations, Enniskillen has four wards, Devenish, Portora, Rossorry and Castlecoole and 16 rural awards - Ballinamallard, Belcoo, Belleek, Brookeboro, Derrygonnelly, Derrylin, Irvinestown, Kesh, Kinawley, Lisbellaw, Lisnaskea, Maguiresbridge, Newtownbutler, Roslea, Tamlaght and Tempo.

Next week's planned two day hearing run each day from 9.30 until 12.30 and from 2pm-5pm, at Omagh College. At the outset, the acting Commissioner will decide on a running order, depending on the numbers present wishing to speak.

However, a spokesman stressed the importance of everyone wishing to speak being present at 9.30 on Monday morning in case there aren't enough people to last out the morning.

"It is up to a maximum of two days", he explained. "We appreciate that Fermanagh Council is unique in that it is a county in its own right and, when one takes into account this Enniskillen/Omagh thing, you could have a situation where people are complaining about sharing a ward with people from the other county.

"We would recommend people log on to the maps in our website, and the maps are also available in hard copy. Every single library in the whole of Fermanagh will have a copy of the provisional recommendations. They got them on 7th January and, as well as that, the Townhall in Enniskillen also have a copy".

The spokesman stressed that next week's public hearings could not consider amendments or objections to the numbers of District Councils.

"The Boundary Commissioner was charged under legislation of coming up with a new ward structure of not less than 55 and not more than 65 for each of the seven new local government districts, so he went to work with the Ordnance Survey, basically, to produce for the proposed seven local government districts and the wards in each.

"So, basically it is what the West (the name for the new body) is going to be. On Monday, the Commissioner will determine the running order and the duration of the public hearing for which we have set aside two days", the spokesman added.