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EVERY SATURDAY MORNING we take a look at all the best comments left on the site by our readers over the past seven days.
This week there was a lot of talk about the general election, social welfare and a potential cancer breakthrough.
The 5 most popular comments this week
1. On Monday, Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Crowley died while canvassing for TD Willie O’Dea in Limerick. Ronan McDermott‘s comment got 2,121 likes:
sorry to read this. Regardless of ones political views please be respectful in the comments here.live life to the full. Never know when your time is up. Condolences to his family & friends.
2. After gardaí maintained a presence at David Byrne’s funeral in Dublin, 1,674 people agreed with ian110664‘s comment:
Imagine someone paying taxes while their gardai station is shut down and then paying more taxes for solicitors to defend the drug dealers AND then paying for a garda escort for those drug dealers.
3. Donna Moss got 1,474 green thumbs for this observation on the same topic:
There should be no publicity for these people or their funerals. All this media hype only serves them more notoriety.
4. Under a poll about capping migrants’ benefits, Peter King asked:
Is it fair that someone can get child benefit for kids that don’t even live in the country?
That one got 1,373 likes.
5. Meanwhile, when it emerged that Ireland is lagging behind other EU countries in terms of social welfare benefits, Derek Lyster wrote:
It should be worked in a way that people who worked are entitled to more than the lifers who left school and went straight to the nearest dole office.Giving the fact that these “jobseekers” get rent supp,medical cards and so on they should only be getting a fraction of what a person who has worked and contributed for a number of years gets
Some 1,308 of you agreed.
The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week
1. As it happened: The RTÉ general election leaders’ debate (322 comments)
2. Call me a selfish criminal and a murderer if you want, but having an abortion was right for me (317 comments)
3. Fine Gael slumps as Sinn Féin rises in latest poll (315 comments)
4. Church of England defends tweet asking for prayers for Richard Dawkins following stroke (285 comments)
5. A week out from polling day, the Catholic Bishops are weighing in on abortion (258 comments)
Standout comments
During the week, a potential new treatment for cancer was hailed for its “extraordinary results”. Scientists in the US carried out a number of studies on patients with advanced leukemia.
In one study of 35 people, 94% of participants with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) saw symptoms vanish completely. Patients with other blood cancers had response rates greater than 80%, and more than half experienced complete remission.
The news sparked a discussion on the site, with Stephen Mc Elligott writing:
My wife is a cancer survivor and is currently in remission and we both think this is great news. What is sad is to think of all those people ( some our friends ) who passed away and could have benefited from this treatment. Thank God something like this was discovered it’s incredible. Better now than never.
Minon commented:
My mother has cancer and its hell, she has lost 60% of her body weight and anything like this would give our family hope, as cancer is by far the most evil disease out there…I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy…
While Leon Stafford added:
I hope this true. If so it would be one of the greatest breakthroughs ever.
Boxer and politician Manny Pacquiao caused controversy by saying gay couples are “worse than animals”.
“It’s common sense. Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female,” Pacquiao told Filipino broadcaster TV5.
Andrea Rock Massey had this response:
Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Em, yes actually! My brother had 2 male dogs that were always at it for God’s sake!! And I highly doubt they were the only ones.
Pacquiao might need to watch more nature documentaries.
After the NYPD shared images of the damage caused by phones that went on fire under pillows, S malady had some advice:
I charge using a timer so that it only charges an hour before I get up. Not sure if it helps with fires but it helps with battery life from not overcharging. The phone gets to go fully dead during the night and is still charged in the morning.
When it emerged that the family of twin brothers from Cork died within weeks of each other in London could be found, sonic shared this observation:
I worked in London for 20years and there are a lot of old Irish over there who worked very hard in a time when Irish weren’t welcomed and have lost touch with home and have no family around, very sad .
During the week, TripAdvisor announced the top 10 Irish beaches for 2016, with Inchydoney beach in Cork taking the top spot for the third year in a row.
A lot of people praised their favourite beaches in the comments section. Brian Casey‘s a fan of Keem beach, Achill. Johnny Donohoe had a word of warning for anyone going there:
You’d end up in New York if ya went swimming there
So now you know.
Under a DailyEdge article about things women want to know, Accord Moan Eye, filled us in on the correct way to pronounce micellar water.
As a scientist, with a PhD in Chemistry, it’s pronounced “my-cellar”. You’re welcome.
(My credentials are important here because micelles are an interfacial chemistry thing, I wasn’t trying to sound like a pompous pr1ck.)
After parts of an Australian town were taken over by fast-growing tumbleweed, Motherofdivinejebus wrote:
Jeez, Someone must have told a REALLY crap joke in that town.
On another note, many of you were happy when Dublin pub MVP allowed dogs back on its premises, with Luke Kelly commenting:
Proper order too ffs. In my old GAA club bar they used to leave the pensioners in with their dogs during the day and it was great fun. As long as the dogs are well looked after and well behaved (and older people especially love their animals for companionship) then I see no problem.
Lets not regulate every single thing out of existence to keep a few pen pushers happy ffs.
The below puzzle drove some people a bit crazy during the week.
The most common answer was 16, but that’s not correct. Here’s why.
Elma Phudd had this to say:
14 but who’s driving the bus?
While Richard Cynical dusted down this old reliable:
I don’t know what a tracker mortgage is
Meanwhile, the first shot of Star Wars: Episode VIII was released earlier this week and it showcases Skellig Michael in all its beauty.
Paddy Ryan had this to say about the scenes:
It’s a bit odd to see a scene from one of my favourite franchises shot in a place I’ve been to and in scenery so familiar. I kinda half expect some auld lad in a flat cap to pop up in the background.
Finally, under last week’s top comments article, Eugene Walsh pondered:
Will I ever ever read this section without a hangover.
How is this morning going, Eugene?
See any good comments? Email them to orla@thejournal.ie.
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Any chance of an update on concerned citizen millionaire banker brother of FG TD who you claimed yesterday was a non political small business owner? No didn’t think so.
Good aul Hugh deleted my comment yesterday as I outed him. Good man Hugh.
*yawn*
Neal what’s yawn about this story, it was plastered all over the media yesterday that’s he was a small business man who was apolitical. He was lying about both these issues, he was the CEO for a banking fund and he is the brother of ex FG TD, Seymour Crawford.
Nothing yawn about it. Downright deceitful!!
I am outraged!
Can we have additional reporting done on your article regarding Mary Lou and this concerned citizen from yeaterday please. This is what you need to be covering not some elitist boarding school in the US.
Exactly.
What we need is a witch hunt against the private citizen who dared to criticise SF.
We need to know his name, his family history, his occupation and as many details of his personal life as possible.
We need to show people that dissent will not be tolerated.
We need to print his name as often as possible to try to intimidate others into silence.
WE NEED TO SHOW – IN CAPS LOCK – THAT WE ARE A BUNCH OF SCREAMING WHINGING BABIES WHO ARE CHRONICALLY INCAPABLE OF RESPONDING TO CRITICISM WITHOUT ASSASSINATING THE CHARACTER OF THE PERSON CRITICISING OUR POLICIES.
That’ll show ‘em.
Calm down ffs you will give yourself an ulcer. Politics is a dirty game and this was up there in the top five but SF are no strangers to doing the odd dirty trick.
A private citizen expressing an opinion publicly is not a dirty trick, Donna.
Printing his name, occupation, background and – most disgustingly – family details online IS a dirty trick.
It sends a very clear message of intimidation. “Dare to criticise us, and our fanatics will expose you”.
Shameful.
Are you saying he just happened to be walking by at that time? Did he not seek her out to confront her? Is he a FG supporter? Connected to FG?
I’ve no idea, Donna.
He could be the worst ***** in all of Christendom for all I know.
But what I do know is shooting the messenger, playing the man and not the ball and refusing to engage in any discussions or debates with someone who disagrees with you paints SF supporters in a very bad light.
Ad hominem attacks make SF supporters look like whinging toddlers.
Why not point out where he was wrong?
Try to convince us where his argument was weak?
Show us that there is a better way?
Spot on Brinster. A knee-capping will be next.
Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t vote SF no matter what they promised. Your man was a bit of a knobend. Mary loo is like Adams all talk and nothing else just the same old mantra.
Btinster , do you really think that Hugh would report the truth , that Concerned Citizen is actually Concerned Hedgefund Manager and FG TD’s brother ? It’s above his (FG) pay grade.
two weeks in a row, I won’t get my head out the door
3 in a row and you qualify to write articles on here.
Lucinda Creighton will be watching you next week. Locked up for life if you get three!
a whole article, now I’m really going to try
Richard , it’s a trick to quiten you down.They did the same to Captain Adebayor , haven’t heard from him since. Time to change your moniker from Richard Cynical to Richard Compliant.
Ah Captain A had some great comments , very witty .
That “concerned citizen” was a dirty trick by fg,labour. They will pay for it in GE.
Yeah – and hijacking every other story because someone dared to criticise Mary Lou doesn’t make you look like a whinging, screaming toddler at all.
Maybe you could try to defend the policies, rather than attack the messenger?
His Brown Thomas leather gloves and blue scarf kind of gave it away for me.
Id like to see the journo covering that fake FG supporter who went on the attack at Mary Lou ….come on Hugh
I will not be voting FG after that episode yesterday. If you can’t get votes fairly then you don’t deserve them.
If he was a plant,it’s another own goal by FG..but in fairness to ML..she engaged with him once he said he wasn’t a journalist..
Mary Lou engaged and fair play to her. It’s the SF activists who screamed blue must and immediately started the witch hunt that I have the issue with. Demanding to know who he was, what’s his family history, publishing his name for dating to speak his mind. Whinging toddlers the lot of them.
*Blue murder
The shinnerbots don’t like it up ‘em! Been a bad few days on the campaign trail, Jorry making a fool of himself with Sean Duignan….sounds like an email went out from IRA HQ this morning saying “Attack every comments board you can find”. It’s actually very funny to see.
I notice Eugene hasn’t commented so he must be still sleeping off his hangover !
have your say