Ministers in Northern Ireland have come under fire for adding ‘needless cost and delay' in the recruitment of chief executives for the 11 reshaped local authorities in the province.

The appointment of Suzanne Wylie as chief executive of the new Belfast Council was the final post for the new ‘super-councils' that will be forged from the 26 existing councils by April 2015.

Despite original plans to ringfence the jobs for existing local authority staff, environment minister Mark Durkan insisted the process was opened more widely to attract applicants from outside the sector.