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 Joan Burton falling out of a boat, Christmas sales and the Kerry Babies case.
The 5 most popular comments this week
1. Joan Burton’s fall from a boat let to one of our most popular stories, and it also inspired this comment from Phil O’Meara, which got 3205 green thumbs.
2. John Appleseed got 1726 green thumbs for this comment in relation to post-Christmas sales:
3. Eoin M shared this experience on an article about complaints about bus drivers. He got 1056 green thumbs.
4. Yet another comment about Joan Burton and that boat, which got Eddie Barrett 999 green thumbs:
5. Anthony Fitzpatrick commented on an article about Dublin Airport, and got 904 green thumbs for saying this:
The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week
1. Pictures: the moment Joan Burton fell out of a boat in Kilkenny floods – 329 comments
2. More bizarre situations will emerge unless we say women are not vessels – 323 comments
3. Enda promises action on abortion within six months of re-election - 250 comments
4. This Irish film about an 8-year-old atheist girl is winning lots of awards – 217 comments
5. Joan is promising a €25 pension increase if Labour gets back into power - 195 comments
Standout comments
Under an article about the correspondence then Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald had to deal with in relation to the Kerry Babies case in the 1980s, Carlovian77 wrote:
As a member of AGS this case really saddens and sickens me – I remember it from when I was young. The ‘men’ that were sent from Dublin to Kerry to ‘get the truth’ did so at the expense of Joanne Hayes’s dignity and her good name. A lot of their ‘investigation work’ took place on high stools listening to idle gossip and accepting it as the truth. As the members were natives of the area people willingly spoke to them. Gerry O’Carroll’s notion of there been two separate fathers of twins just shows how desperate they were to be seen to getting a result for Management above in Garda H.Q. and showed him for the fool he his. I have nothing but admiration for Joanna Hayes and the manner in which she has dealt with the whole situation – I do hope one day in the right forum she will tell her story, people need to hear about their appalling treatment. The worst and most shameful part of the whole scenario is that it never stopped the members from being promoted – the old boys school and all that which unfortunately is still around to some extent. I love my job and things have moved on but I’m not naive to the bulls*** that still goes on at times – quite nauseating really.
In the latest in his series of photographs of abandoned rural properties, Donal Moloney recently found an absolute gem in Roscommon.
The old house has not been lived in for more than 20 years after its proprietor Mary Kate Gallagher (nee McManus) died in 1991.
Nigel Davis commented:
In rural areas of Clare and Galway are full of such houses. When I go rambling and pass such houses/ruins, I often wonder what happened to the people who once lived there.While they have all passed away, I imagine their descendants are leading busy lives in England, America and Australia. Some of the houses have been empty for generations.
Meanwhile, sean mc donagh added:
Sounds like a cool place to live . Away from everyone . Be the right place
As the country geared up for Storm Frank, some of you were hoping for another epic broadcast from RTÉ’s Teresa Mannion.
Dee Kelly wrote:
Hope to see another performance from Teresa!
While Jarlath Coady noted:
She deserves to have whatever storm comes in on ‘T’ to be named after her. #necessaryjusticeforteresa
Sadly this won’t come to pass as Tegan is the chosen ‘T’ name this time around. Can we start a petition?
On another note, stopit invented the name of TV show we want to watch about police officers and vets joining forces to save animals:
the Met and the Vet.
They were responding to an article about a homeless man giving a Christmas present to police officers in London after they helped a vet save his injured dog.
Under an article about DNA analysis of an early Irish farmer who lived near Belfast more than 5,000 years ago, entitled Ireland’s first farmers were far different from the Irish we know today, Brian J Cowen had this observation;
Yes, they appear to be made of chocolate
The DNA actually suggests the ancient Irish were of Middle Eastern descent. But they may also have been made of chocolate. Who knows?
AARO-SAURUS summed up what a lot of people thought about actors Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher donating $1 million to charity in Syria:
Lovely thing to do. Fair play.
An article about an abandoned Christmas puppy rescued by Dogs Trust prompted Fred Astare Astare to give some sound advice:
I messed up myself this year. I bought a puppy, a Bijon Frise, for my 10 year old. I then got a notice to quit at my current address, knowing that a future landlord would be virtually impossible to accept pets, I had to sell the dog 3 months later. As you can guess it was not easy on my daughter, she still doesn’t talk about it.So a lesson to everbody in this day and age, think ahead, pets are a big thing with renting properties now. So don’t buy an animal unless you have a mortgage on a house or the management company allow pets.
Finally, many of you paid tribute to Motörhead frontman Lemmy who died during the week.
Pat Maher wrote:
If you like to gamble I tell ya I’m your man….rip
Avina Laaf commented:
“You know I’m born to lose, and gambling’s for fools, but that’s the way I like it baby, I don’t wanna live forever…”
Death of a legend, RIP.
And Matt Donovan added:
A defining moment in my early life was hearing the Motor head track killed by death when I was about 12 in 1988. Everyone else I knew was into pop music but it was Motorhead & similar for me. Will never forget how hearing the bass line to that track made me feel. Raising a glass tonight to another departed great. RIP.
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