A statue symbolising the bonds of friendship and cultural exchange between Longford Town and Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche in France was unveiled last week at the Park Road Leisure Park as part of ongoing Town Twinning celebrations The 'Fraternity' statue was gifted to Longford County Council and it represents the bond of friendship between both towns and symbolises the ideals of Liberty Longford Town and Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche were officially twinned in 1998 The statue was sculpted by artist Maxime Libiot who was in Longford this week with his wife Manon and children Héloise and Apolline Director of Services with Longford County Council John Brannigan Senior Area Enngineer with Longford County Council Peter Brady Longford Municipal Leas Cathaoirleach Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi and Cllr Martin Monaghan also joined in the celebrations The statue was unveiled by Cllr Seamus Butler Cathaoirleach of Longford Municipal District and Mayor Sébastien Guéret Speaking at the official unveiling of the 'Fraternity' statue Cllr Seamus Butler Cathaoirleach of Longford Municipal District said utter destruction in the Middle East and the fracturing of the world economic order the principals that this statue epitomises Fraternité and Égalité were never more important today to all nations who take a stand against dictatorship Remember it was the post Revolution French nation that sent troops to Ireland in 1798 to support the people of Ireland on their uprising against the English Colonial forces." Members of the Town Twinning group also visited Melview National School as part of their new Twinning Charter in a bid to encourage young people to develop friendships and embody the spirit of mutual respect and openness to new ideas and experiences Cathaoirleach of Longford Municipal District District also paid tribute to André Guyomard and his wife Marie-Claire on André's final visit to Longford as Twinning President and noted his years of voluntary work on making the twinning relationship a success Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon said "Longford Town and Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche have enjoyed a mutually beneficial Town Twinning arrangement since 1998 over 2,000 young people and adults have been involved in exchange programmes people from both Longford Town and Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche have had many authentic Longford Libraries and the Local Enterprise Office Longford are all part of Longford County Council About Us Longford County CouncilÁras an ChontaeGreat 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best local journalism consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter Support our mission and join our community now you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism Good tidings from Longford’s Twin Noyal will be making their way across the sea very soon Cathaoirleach of the Longford Municipal District Seamus Butler announced that a statue identical to the one standing in Noyal Chatillon Sur Seiche Longford Town and Noyal have been twin towns since 1988 Last year members of the local community visited the French town to witness the unveiling of the original statue “The last visit was 18 months ago or so,” said Cllr Seamus Butler “There was a statue unveiling called the Fraternity Statue.” The statue was sculpted by an artist local to the area called Maxime Libiot Also Read: Longford councillors have varying views over Dog Park “What they’ve done is commissioned the artist to do a similar statue or practically the same one to donate to Longford.” The council had two decisions to make regarding the statue The statue is to be brought over by ferry by the artist Councillor Gerry Hagan suggested a location “I think this would be a fantastic piece to have in the centre of our town when we eventually get the Providers building demolished.” Also Read: Almost €30k worth of narcotics seized by Longford Gardaí Cllr Butler asked if it would be ready for April 10 to which Cllr Hagan replied it would not “No I can’t imagine it will now but we can temporarily re-locate it someplace I wouldn’t expect we’d have providers demolished before then “When we get to the area that’s left we can install this beautiful statue on it.” The rest of the council had differing ideas “As you know I’ve been involved with the twinning for over 30 years since it started “I see the trouble the artist is going through to provide us with the statue and the trouble they’re going through to transport it to Longford “And I fully see where Gerry is coming from and as my colleague I don’t want to talk him down,” she clarified Also Read: Tight battle: Three candidates in race to fill Fine Gael seat on Longford county council She then put forward her suggestion for the statue's home maybe even the Dog Track someplace in a park where people can see it where it can be admired and the sentiment behind the statue can be appreciated “The dog track in my mind is not finished yet but the skate park is done and the playground is done “I suppose that this is a temporary location and that we can look at alternative locations at a later date.”It was decided that the Dog Track would be the best place for the sculpture.Landscaping will be done and an unveiling ceremony will take place in the afternoon on April 10 " + $(".testo_articolo").html().replace(//g please subscribe and support local journalism Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles To continue reading this article for FREE,please kindly register and/or log in Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news Picture: Facebook Longford Slashers Gaelic Football Club FILE PHOTO: Image by Joshua Miranda from Pixabay Midland Hearing Care looks at what is perilymphatic fistula Liam Brady plays Bill Snibson while Lindsay Dann plays Sall in St Mel’s Musical Society's production of Me and My Girl Minster Alan Dillon at the opening of the new offices The Longford GAA day saw quite the turn out even Marty Morrisey made his way down for the 21st Longford Day at Punchestown Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie The Local Europe ABVästmannagatan 43113 25 StockholmSweden The post-Brexit saga of driving licences for Brits living in France has been long It is, however, now largely resolved - a deal has been agreed, the enormous backlog of applications has been cleared and most applications for a driving licence swap are proceeding fairly smoothly READ ALSO How to swap your UK licence for a French one one issue remaining - whether the new French licence would allow the same rights to drive certain types of larger vehicles Anyone who obtained a UK driving licence after 1997 is entitled to drive vehicles up to 3,500kg maximum authorised mass (MAM) with up to 8 passenger seats People wishing to drive vehicles up to 8,250kg maximum authorised mass (MAM) - for example minibuses or the larger types of campervan - need to take an extra test those who got their UK licences before 1997 were entitled to drive vehicles up to 8,250kg without needing to take an extra test The problem is that the standard French driving licence - the Permis B - does not allow for the driving of larger vehicles without a separate test Permis B holders can drive vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tonnes with eight passengers or fewer So for people who got their UK licences after 1997 it's basically a like-for-like swap those who got their licences before 1997 found that their French licence allowed them to drive fewer categories of vehicles than their UK one This has been a particular problem for enthusiasts of camper vans or mobile homes - some of whom had already purchased larger vehicles that were legal on their UK licence but which they now cannot drive on a French licence The issue does not affect people who live in the UK - they can continue to drive larger camper vans and other vehicles in France in accordance with the conditions of their UK driving licence The post-Brexit driving licence deal was finally agreed in 2021 and the gradual swap of UK driving licences for French residents began The question of the exchange of rights for larger vehicles But French authorities have now definitely clarified that the larger vehicle rights of older UK licences cannot be exchanged for an equivalent French licence without taking a test Anyone who already has a French Permis B - the standard driving licence - will need to take the extra French test in order to regain their rights to drive heavier cars The UK government's Living in France page has now been updated to reflect this clarification You can find full information on the options for a French test, as well as the relevant French driving licence categories for larger vehicles, HERE or in English on the Facebook group Driving in France - French Licence Application Please log in here to leave a comment The changes will start on April 1st - at that point only electric scooters will need to have the physical green insurance sticker displayed READ MORE: France to end rule on insurance 'green cards' How will police verify my insurance status This allows them to check a driver's insurance using their licence plate and by verifying information in the file of insured vehicles (FAV) - which has been accessible to law enforcement since 2019 Insurance companies are required to update the register every 72 hours This means that drivers will no longer have any insurance paperwork to present when pulled over by police as it will be up to the officer to consult their file using the online system How do you know if your car is registered on the online file of insured vehicles Car owners can check that their vehicles are listed on the file, which is maintained by the Association pour la gestion des informations sur le risque en assurance, by connecting to the 'Fichier des véhicules assurés' website, www.fva-assurance.fr, clicking the 'Consulter le FVA' tab and following the instructions beware that it can take 72 hours for the FAV to update This means that during those first few days you will need to present your Insured Vehicle Memo (Mémo Véhicule Assuré) to the police officer This is a document that is provided by an insurer when taking out a new contract Insurers will be sending out this document to motorists in the coming weeks to aid with the transition period after the end of the carte verte in April It will be a small card that you can carry with you Some providers may allow you to download or access it online too What do you do if you were classified as 'uninsured' during a police stop If your vehicle is classified as uninsured after being pulled over - whether correctly or incorrectly - you will have 45 days to appeal to the National Agency for the Automated Processing of Offenses (ANTAI) as police would be able to access your information on the online file you may want to carry your Insured Vehicle Memo in the off-chance you are not listed in the insured vehicles file It also contains the necessary information you would need to complete a report after an accident If you are planning to drive in the EU/EEA, you do not need to worry. Police officers in these countries will also be able to consult your insurance information in the online file by checking your licence plate, according to the insurance section for Société Générale. if you are going outside of the EU - to a country like Albania or Morocco it would be wise to consult local rules and ask for the 'International Motor Insurance Card' (Carte internationale d'assurance automobile) from your insurer before your departure A group of musicians known as “Full Swing” are travelling with a delegation from Longford County Council to Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche on Thursday They will be joined by singer Aoife Mulligan, Edgeworthstown and harpist Áine McLoughlin Full Swing are an established Trad band and are comprised of Lorna Beer Harry Reynolds and Eoin Walsh – they are all members of Joe Callaghan CCE and hail from the Edgeworthstown area They had the honour of performing for the French delegation who visited Longford in March 2018 as part of the Longford Twinning events and the visitors were so impressed with the band that the Mayor of Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche invited them to travel over to take part in a festival to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Twinning between Longford town and Noyal in Brittany They are all very excited at this opportunity and grateful to Mary Carleton-Reynolds for all her support and encouragement to them Longford GAA have also come on board and provided each member of the band with a Longford jersey which they will wear with pride at various functions in Noyal In addition to preparing for their trip to France this band have been working hard gigging in local pubs and performing at functions and even found time to compete in the “Battle of the Bands” ran by Mullahoran CCE – for which they came in 2nd place in the Senior band category Read Also: Longford County Choir hits the high notes on visit to Noyal-Chatillon-Sur-Seiche PHOTO GALLERY: Visitors from Longford's twinning town Noyal-Chatillon-Sur Seiche in France receive warm welcome at Arás an Chontae  Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.