METRO Thursday, September 17, 2009 D METRODigest A WANTED photo of a squirrel that broke into a furniture shop and caused thousands of euros of damage has been issued by police. The fugitive triggered burglar alarms after leaping around like a mad thing, shredding sheets and curtains at the store in Rheine, Germany. He should not be approached unless youve got a bag of peanuts, said an officer. THERE is nothing stopping Catholics from voting Yes for the Lisbon Treaty, a representative of the Irish Catholic Bishops said yesterday. The Bishop of Down and Connor, the Most Rev Noel Traenor, told the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs there were no grounds to justify a No vote for religious or ethical reasons. Dr Traenor, speaking with the support of Catholic primate Cardinal Sen Brady, said the treaty does not alter the legal position of abortion in Ireland. He added: This is further assured by the legal guarantees secured by the Irish Government in the period since the first referendum. Anti- treaty campaigners accused him of misreading the text. Yes to Lisbon gets Bishops sanction WOMEN are at increasing risk of being trapped in abusive relationships during the recession, a campaigner has claimed. More than 15,000 reports of physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse at the hands of a partner were made to the Womens Aid helpline last year. And the support group warned that controlling boyfriends and husbands were making life even harder by withholding and threatening to withhold money. Margaret Martin, Womens Aid director, said vulnerable women were trapped amid fears of increased poverty, losing their home and the effect it would have on their children. The Womens Aid report revealed 1,900 women reported financial abuse last year with some denied money for food for themselves and their children. Recession traps women, warns agency CEANN Comhairle John ODonoghue apologised again yesterday, admitting he was embarrassed by lavish expenses he ran up while Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. In a Dil statement following a letter written to all TDs, the Fianna Fil TD (pictured) again claimed he was unaware of the costs to the taxpayer for luxuries such as a limousine drive between terminals in an airport. I sincerely regret that, although on official duty, such considerable costs were incurred. I apologise for this, the Kerry TD said. Mr ODonoghue had expenses bills of more than 500,000 during his tenure. ODonoghue admits embarrassment Rail bosses bridge delay risked lives By COLM KELPIERAIL chiefs were yesterday accused of playing with thousands of peoples lives by not closing a busy rail line when safe- ty concerns were raised five days before it collapsed into the sea. Labour TD Tommy Broughan said countless lives could have been lost when a bridge on the cross-Border Dub- lin-Belfast line crumbled near Malahide last month. Mr Broughan told TDs and senators that a report from the public less than a week before the potential disaster flagged up concerns about one of the piers supporting the bridge. We could have been attending funer- als for weeks. This could have been one of the most horrendous events in the his- tory of our country, Mr Broughan said. Why didnt you stop the trains on Au- gust 17? he asked. Why did you take a chance on August 17? But Iarnrd ireann chief executive Richard Fearn said the complaint was taken seriously and a structural engineer was sent to examine the scene. We did not take a chance, we reacted properly and professionally and when we got further information that there were no immediate risk but there were issues that needed to be looked at we sent a structural engineer to do an as- sessment, Mr Fearn said. The previous Monday, a Malahide sea scouts leader had contacted Irish Rail over possible damage to one of the via- ducts piers. However, Mr Fearn told the Oireachtas Transport Committee that scout chief Ivan Barrett did not say there was an im- mediate risk of collapse. He also said a special train checked the line just the day before the collapse but detected no structural problems. But the rail chief later revealed the structural engineer responding to the sea scout call did not go out on a boat to look at the pier in detail. The bridge collapsed into the Broadm- eadow Estuary on August 21, moments after a train passed over it. Thousands of passengers have had to take alternative transport, with Irish Rail saying the bridge may be in service in November. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html