Navan councillors travel to Italian twin town for talks

Exchanges between Navan and the Italian town of Broccostella at next year"s St Patrick"s Day celebrations were at the centre of discussions when members of the two councils met last week. A delegation from Navan Town Council, led by Mayor Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons and which also included Cllrs Phil Brennan, Christy Reilly and Shane Cassells, met with their counterparts in the Italian town. They were welcomed to the town by Mayor of Broccostella, Sergio Cipitelli. The two towns were twinned three years ago in a relationship which was born out of the tragic death of young Navan man and Broccostella native, Ezio Lupo. The Lupo family own a popular take-away at Brews Hill in Navan. In a brief visit to the Italian town last week, the Navan councillors, who were accompanied by official Fergus Muldoon, met with local bands and groups, who they are keen to bring to Ireland next year for St Patrick"s Day. Speaking at a reception held in the town hall in Broccostella, Cllr Fitzsimons thanked all those who had worked hard to put links in place and pledged to make sure the twinning arrangement would now result in ordinary people being able to visit their sister towns. 'It is great to see the huge interest there is among local groups in Broccostella to come to Navan and create bonds between our two communities. There is a similar desire among our sporting and cultural groups to visit your town and we hope to put funding in place to allow this to happen,' he said.