The Government is expected to allow for the establishment of directly elected mayors in Dublin and Cork by mid-2019.
All the local authorities in both cities will remain as they were and each will continue to have honorary mayors.
The new mayors will have specified executive powers which will be limited initially but can be expanded, as happened in London.
Sinn Fein Councillor John Hearne says Waterford should be included.
The feasibility of directly elected mayors for other cities such as Waterford was looked at but on the evidence available Minister John Paul Phelan said the office only became effective when the population of a city was close to half a million.
However John Hearne says that should not be the case.