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Cleo, Love/Hate cat and instigator of debate at TheJournal.ie Screengrab/RTÉ

Top readers' comments of the week

Here’s our round-up of the most interesting and most popular comments from this week. Did you make it in?

EVERY SATURDAY MORNING, we take a look back at all the best comments left on the site by our readers in the past seven days.

This week, there was plenty of debate and discussion about the strike by junior doctors, what Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary had to say about pensioners, and, of course, the fate of ‘Cleo’ the Love/Hate cat.

So here, in no particular order, are the standout comments from the week gone by…

The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week

1. Column: Making lewd remarks to women on the street is not ‘banter’ (351 comments)

2. TD who called Sinéad O’Connor mad as a brush apologises (346 comments)

3. Poll: Should pensioners pay for their TV licences? (245 comments)

4. Poll: Do you support the striking doctors? (237 comments)

5. “Pensioners should pay for their TV licences and travel” – Michael O’Leary (232 comments)

Some of the best comments left on the site this week

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Nile Rodgers [David Jensen/EMPICS Entertainment]

A conversation was sparked about unusual items left on buses, after we published an infographic detailing the most common and most bizzarre things that get left behind (a life-size cardboard cut-out of Chic frontman Nile Rodgers being, by far, the most unusual).

Tanya Espania chipped in with the following:

I saw a granny hop off the bus leaving a boy about two behind munching on a biscuit, I didn’t realise they were together till she came back on the bus to get him…

Ronan McGrath, focusing on what was obviously the most important aspect of the story, asked “what type of biscuit?” The reply:

Looked like a hob nob.
Dave Murphy‘s comment on a story about the Vatican accidentally minting coins with the word ‘Lesus’ instead of ‘Jesus’ works on so many levels:
A clerical error.
BlueSkyThinking demonstrated some, em, blue sky thinking with this remark on a story about stolen radioactive material:
Maybe they should only search for the thieves when it’s dark?
And, on a more serious note, Catherine Sims was one of the many readers impressed by what Malala Yousafzai had to say about pacifism on John Stewart’s Daily Show.
She is so wise and yet so young. Brave, dignified, articulate and a survivor. She wants to learn and be educated but in reality she is the one doing the teaching. Here’s hoping her message reaches all ears.

The 5 most popular comments this week

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[Photocall Ireland]

1. First up, Anna Lark got 1,505 green thumbs on a story about complaints over the depiction of a cat being shot in crime drama Love/Hate:

On a show that has had a rape scene, scenes of severe brutality, murder, drug abuse and prostitution a cat charity gets offended when something (that would in all probability not happen) happens to a cat. Calm down he was aiming for a teenage boy, the cat was just in the way. Pour out some milk for our fallen brother and move on.

2. With 1,232 thumbs, Ed da Red came up with what would have been a perfect TheJournal.ie hashtag for a story about CAB auctioning off a gang boss’s timepiece via eBay:

Crimewatch

3. On our Tuesday morning poll asking  ”do you support the striking doctors,” P O Leary received 1,091 thumbs for the following:

There is not enough red bull in the world that could keep any person awake and alert for 24 hours to make decisions on people’s health.

I am with the junior doctors on this one.

4. On our story headlined “1,900 ‘welfare tourists’ caught in three years’ Gerard Carey‘s four-word comment got approval from 963 people:

Tip of the iceberg.

5. Finally, Michael O’Leary generated a lot of debate this week with his comments on free travel for pensioners. Ecostore.ie joined in, generating 828 thumbs with the following:

I heard him on Newstalk …. His argument was for people in Dublin 4 and other leafy suburbs ( ie well off people ) automatically getting child benefit / free tv licence / free travel …. not all of these people need it or deserve it ….. He is 110% correct there !

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13 Comments
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    Mute Ned Flanders
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    Sep 18th 2018, 9:48 PM

    Went today. Its great craic and well worth a trip out. The Garda have done a great job with traffic in the area too.

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    Mute Finbarr Lucey
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    Sep 18th 2018, 10:52 PM

    @Ned Flanders: of all the ploughing matches I went to over the years I have to say screggan tullamore is by far the best area to hold the event. So easy to get there and get back from. No delays , very well managed by the Gardai . And very Central for people to travel. Should be held there every year I think.

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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    Sep 18th 2018, 11:02 PM

    @Finbarr Lucey: couldn’t agree more. Especially after the disaster that was New Ross.

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    Mute Finbarr Lucey
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    Sep 18th 2018, 11:25 PM

    @Bilbo Baggins: and castlemartyr

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    Mute Siobhàn Malone
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    Sep 18th 2018, 9:58 PM

    Should it last for four days to allow for issues like these and accommodate the vast crowds that want to attend…? has the ploughing out-grown 3 days?

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Sep 18th 2018, 9:40 PM

    Going on Thursday so hopefully bit better weather.

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    Mute Dáithí O Raghailaigh
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    Sep 18th 2018, 9:41 PM

    that’s the headline for all the papers tomorrow ..

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    Mute Joe L
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    Sep 18th 2018, 10:43 PM

    97,500 there today. Will it ever get to the stage where there are too many people on site?

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    Mute Do the Bort man
    Favourite Do the Bort man
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    Sep 19th 2018, 9:31 AM

    @Joe L: there 112,500 attended the first day last year, I was there on that day and yesterday, it’s very busy where the walkways intersect, but overall its ok

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    Mute Seeking Truth
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    Sep 19th 2018, 7:17 AM

    Extending the show to a 4th day is a great idea. The traffic is always terrible so maybe that would ease things up a bit…

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    Mute James O'Brien
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    Sep 18th 2018, 10:18 PM

    Who got knocked out by a fart wind then..

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    Mute Paul Furey
    Favourite Paul Furey
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    Sep 19th 2018, 10:11 AM

    @James O’Brien: Feeling a bit thick now are you? Check out also the mounting damage and the death. Fool.

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    Mute DeFonz
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    Sep 19th 2018, 8:22 AM

    Is plough judging so minutely calibrated that they had a concern that the wind might disrupt the pattern of soil on the top of the furrows to such a degree that the readings would be inaccurate?

    have no knowledge of this stuff, merely intrigued by rural matters…

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Sep 19th 2018, 8:44 AM

    @DeFonz: try Google and learn a bit.

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