MOATE GROUP SCORES INTERNATIONAL FILM SUCCESS

A group of three young Westmeath men have achieved a seemingly impossible feat: winning a major international film festival with their first ever attempt at movie making.

Michael Watts, Ray Hourihane and Steve Nolan, who met at a performing arts course in Moate, won the award for best fictional drama in a short movie at the 25th Cork International Youth Film Festival, held recently.

While on the course, the trio decided to form their own film group, and following a chance conversation with one of the organisers in Cork, decided to enter the Festival.

Being the oldest member, Ray organised the purchase of a proper movie camera and professional editing equipment to ensure good production quality.

Ray directed and edited the movie, Michael wrote the script and Steve did the storyboarding.

They also had help from two other lads, Michael's 12 year old brother, Shane Watts, and Philip Sheridan.

Their film, "The Immigrant," tells the story of a young man coming to Ireland for the first time from Poland to carry out the wishes of his late father, who died four years before.

There are a few surprises, especially when the locals in the fictional town of Killeen realise that the so-called immigrant is actually one of their own.

All the filming took place in Moate, Castletown Geoghegan, Mount Temple and Dublin, with special thanks to Bart O' Connor of Moate, who allowed the young film makers to use his shop in their production.

The Moate group came ahead of entrants from all over the world, including Germany, Scotland, Uganda, England and France.

Previous winners of the Festival have gone on to major international and Hollywood success, and Trio Films are currently involved in pre-production for another project.

They are seeking actors or assistance from anyone, young or old, who might wish to get involved.

To contact Trio Films, e-mail raymondo 600@hotmail.com.

ENHANCEMENT OF THOMASTOWN BUS STOP IMMINENT - SAYS NAUGHTEN

Deputy Denis Naughten said he had been informed by Roscommon County Council that it intended to provide a lay-by for buses on the western bound carriageway at Thomastown, between Athlone and Ballinasloe, in the coming weeks.

He said this development would compliment the recent bus stop and signage, which had been erected on the eastern bound carriageway at this location.

"The new lay-by will be installed on the Ballinasloe side of the Shannonbridge junction, which will facilitate buses pulling in to pick up passengers wishing to travel to Ballinasloe / Galway, or passengers coming from Athlone / Dublin," said Deputy Naughten.

He said the bus stop would not only benefit people who wished to travel to either Athlone or Ballinasloe, but would also facilitate anybody who wished to connect into any part of the Bus Eireann network.

"While the stop has not yet formally been included in the Bus Eireann timetable between Dublin and Galway, it will be included as a request stop when the new timetable is printed," said Deputy Naughten.

He paid tribute to all those who had assisted in bringing the project about, including local residents, the Council and local Cllrs John Naughten and Ollie Moore.

LEYDEN LOBBIES FOR REGISTRAR OF WILLS

Fianna Fail Senator Terry Leyden said this week that he was making considerable progress in forwarding a Private Members Bill to Seanad Eireann, calling for the Registration of Wills.

"I am of the opinion that there is an urgent need for this, and it must be tackled by legislation to provide for a National Registration System for wills," said Senator Leyden.

He said the law was necessary because many people's final wishes were not being honoured properly. "Many people make wills now knowing that sometimes they may not be executed correctly or at all," said Senator Leyden.

"It is a unique situation where the purchaser of this service has no after sales comeback in a sense.

"We have a responsibility to ensure that citizens' wishes are honoured and given the proper legal recognition deserved."

He added "one person deprived of what is rightfully theirs is one person too many."

Senator Leyden said the central registration should be provided by the General Registrars Office, which was now located in Co. Roscommon.

"All births, deaths and marriages must be legally registered by law, therefore it is only natural that the central registration of wills would be located in the same place," he said.

Senator Leyden added that in the course of his research, he had discovered a Council of Europe Convention for the establishment of a scheme of registration of wills.

"This dates back to 1972, and I understand it was never ratified by Ireland. "However, such countries as Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain ratified it."

He said the main aim of this convention was the provision of a registration scheme enabling a testator to register his will in order to reduce the risk of the will remaining unknown or being found belatedly, as well as to facilitate the discovery of the existence of this will after the death of the testator.

"This was on account of the situation where a growing number of testators made their wills in a place not their home, and even in a foreign country

"Since most member states do not require wills to be deposited with a court of law, a notary or another authority, and have no central register, the heirs are often unaware of the existence and the whereabouts of a will," said Senator Leyden.

He added that a registration scheme for wills would make it possible to ascertain whether or not a deceased person had made a will, and if so, where that will could be found.

"Last year, 5,400 wills were probated in Ireland, but over 28,000 people died. There is a significant shortfall and it clearly demonstrates my point," said Senator Leyden.

Senator Leyden urged all interested people to contact him if they had queries or information in relation to this issue at 087 7978922.

NAUGHTEN QUERIES DEFENCE MINISTER ON PERSONNEL CONTRACTS

Fine Gael Deputy Denis Naughten this week questioned the Minister for Defence about the issue of extending the employment contracts for privates in the Defence Forces.

Deputy Naughten said that currently, privates who entered the Defence Forces since 1994 could only remain within the service for a maximum of 12 years, while longer periods of service were available for junior and senior non-commissioned officers.

Deputy Naughten said personnel who entered the Defence Forces under these conditions were now coming up for the completion of their contracts, and there was uncertainty as to whether these contracts would be extended

The Defence Forces representative body, PDFORRA, has now submitted a claim to the Department of Defence, and Deputy Naughten asked the Minister about his plans to implement these proposals.

The Minister replied "PDFORRA has submitted a claim under the conciliation and arbitration scheme for a further review of the terms of service applying to personnel enlisting in the Permanent Defence Forces after 1 January 1994.

"As discussion on issues raised under the scheme are confidential to the parties concerned, the Deputy will appreciate that it would not be appropriate to comment further, other than to emphasise that in dealing with this issue, the manpower and operational needs of the Defence Forces must be the primary consideration."

CALLOWS HABITATS BEING HIT BY TRESPASSERS

Birdwatch Ireland and the IFA met in Banagher this week to discuss the growing threat to sensitive bird habitats caused by trespassers on the Shannon Callows, between Athlone and Portumna.

Farmers and BirdWatch field workers in the Callows say the habitats of birds such as the endangered corncrake are being further threatened by an increase in intrusive and disruptive activities in the area.

This has included vehicles being driven across hay meadows which are the nesting habitat of the corncrake, noisy disturbance caused by model aircraft being flown in the Callows, and threats to ground nesting birds as a result of dogs being let off their leads on the meadow.

The Chairman of the IFA's Shannon Action Committee, Paddy Halligan, said farmland in the Shannon Callows was private property and should be recognised as such by the public at large.

He said farmers were generally tolerant of reasonable access by fishermen and other responsible users who had the courtesy to request prior permission, respect the Countryside Code and have appropriate insurance cover for their activities.

BirdWatch Ireland's Corncrake Project Officer, Brian Caffrey, said the conservation of corncrakes and other breeding bird species depended largely on the goodwill and support of the farming community. He said he looked forward to a successful public awareness campaign by BWI and the IFA to ensure that the habitat management programme would not be undermined by irresponsible recreational activities which he said were detrimental to both farming and wildlife conservation interests.

"PEOPLE POWER" WINS FUNDING FOR N62 ROAD - WHELAN

Westmeath County Cllr Joe Whelan this week hailed a decision to provide 408,000 euro for the upgrade of the N62 Ballinahown to Fardrum road as "people powered funding."

Cllr Whelan praised the work of the local N62 Action Committee, who had produced an influential report on the road. He said he had heard praise for the report from the local authority and the National Roads Authority.

"The report outlined short, medium and long term targets in relation to improving safety on the road," said Cllr Whelan. "The funding is the largest allocation for this road and is the commencement of a process that will cost over 2 Million euro."

He said the allocation was divided as follows: Railway Bridge pavement - 13,000 euro, N62 Advance Design - 40,000 euro, North of Ballinahown - 355,000 euro.

He said money of the order of 40,000 euro was also allocated for safety measures at junctions.

Welcoming the funding, Cllr Whelan said "this is a very important step forward as the Council now have the funding to create a design for the road. This will note the targets identified by the local N62 Action Group.

"In discussions with the roads section, I have been given a commitment to return to the local committee when the design is drawn up. Obviously, we have some way to go and the local committee will be advocating for the work to be realised sooner rather than later."

The members of the N62 Action Committee are: Fr. Aidan Ryan PP, John Dolan, Chairman, Joe Whelan, Secretary, Frank Coughlan, Ann Coughlan, John Gately, Denis Rohan, Jim Campbell and Jimmy Moran.