D Tuesday, October 20, 2009 METRO *Includes all crisps, confectionery, fruit, nuts, seeds, cakes and desserts under 1.80. Excludes Slim Fast and Atkins. Products subject to availability, some products only available in selected stores. Offer ends 24th December. Lunch Sorted! An Aleksandr Orlov talking toy in the meerkat enclosure at a zoo ahead of 5,000 toys going on sale in December in response to demands from fans of the comparethemeerkat.com star Picture: PA Cool FoR KATS Cow on the tracks derails Ghan train ONE of Australias most popular tourist trains, The Ghan, has derailed after hitting a cow in the Outback. Great Southern Rail, which operates The Ghan, said no passengers were injured in the incident, which happened near the small town of Kulgera. The famous train was on its 2,979km (1,850-mile) run between Darwin and Adelaide when it hit the wandering bovine. The locomotive ran off the tracks, but there was no damage to the train. The cow, unfortunately, died. City bypass opens ten months early A NEW 23km bypass of Waterford City including the countrys longest cable-stayed bridge opened yesterday, ten months ahead of schedule. The 600million tolled scheme will take up to 12,000 vehicles from the citys quays. Tourism Minister Martin Cullen said the project heralded a new era for the south-east. The crowning piece of this scheme must be the 465-metre cable stayed bridge over the Suir, Mr Cullen said. The bypass will shave 20 minutes off peak journey times on the N25 Rosslare/Cork route. Travellers lose claim against disco companyBY ROSS McDONAGHA GROUP of teenage Travellers who were refused entry to a disco have failed to prove discrimination at the Equality Tribunal. The 19 teenagers claimed to have been refused entry to a Halloween disco at Cork City Hall in 2006 be- cause they were members of the Traveller community. One of the group, Louis McCarthy, who was 14 years old at the time, told the Tribunal he noticed one of the security personnel was pointing at him as he queued. When he reached the top, the bouncer told him he was not getting in because he had been drinking, something the 14-year-old claimed never to have done in his life. Louis phoned his mother, who then drove to the venue to confirm this, only to be told the reason her son was barred was because he had been fighting in the queue. Word spread through the queue that members of the Traveller com- munity were being refused entry, so some of the girls removed their hoop earrings and let their hair down to try to disguise the fact; some managing to gain entry. One by one, most of the 19 were refused entry, some claiming they were told by security that no Trav- ellers were getting in tonight. Outlining its case, the event or- ganisers Grooveyard Ltd said it was approached by a group of ten to 12 individuals seeking entry, but it refused entry to one, Jonathan McCarthy, as he had a history of violent behaviour and had been re- moved from a previous event for fighting. It claimed the group then became verbally hostile and aggressive, shouting obscenities and kicking the security barriers outside City Hall. Another of the group, 16-year-old Philomena McCarthy, then forced her way through the barriers and re- fused to move away from the en- trance before attempting to force her way into venue, Grooveyard said. A Garda sergeant also gave evi- dence, confirming that he had re- sponded to a report of a disturbance. When he arrived, the security man- ager told him a group of youths had become aggressive and threatening after they had been refused entry. When he pointed to the group then standing on the opposite side of the road, they all ran away. The tribunal ruled the 19 were re- fused entry for causing a distur- bance, being associated with those causing a disturbance or for falling short of the minimum age, but not for being Travellers. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html