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 David Bowie, Alan Rickman and the refugee crisis.
The 5 most popular comments this week
1. Marc Power, and 1,365 others, were proud of the Irish people who turned up to the funeral of a Polish man who died alone on Christmas Day.
There are lots of good decent souls sound despite the constant stream of bad news suggesting otherwise RIP polish gentleman
2. Simple words from Gavin Lacey resonated with at least 1,314 of us on Monday morning as news of David Bowie’s passing emerged.
A true icon. RIP Starman ⭐
3. On Tuesday, H&M had to give €18,000 to two sisters who were caught up in a store’s training exercise. Al Ca quickly pointed out:
Not often you lose €18,000 in a fake robbery!
And 1,139 readers liked his humour.
4. Tom Voz got 1,088 green thumbs with this reaction to Lucinda Creighton’s suggestion of refugee screening.
Jaysus it’s about time somebody in this country at least brought the issue up…
5. Vinne_the_yute did not agree with Anne-Marie Dermody’s suggestion that women voters should vote for female candidates from other parties if there are none from Fine Gael on the ballot paper.
Well then she’s a sexist Plain and simple. There is NO other way to look at it. FG need to fire her immediately. Outrageous.
Nor did 955 of you.
The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week
1. Enda Kenny is almost certainly going to be returned as Taoiseach (383 comments)
2. Poll reveals fear of terrorism as Lucinda Creighton suggests refugee screening (314 comments)
3. Tear gas and water cannon used to disperse far-right Pegida rally in Cologne (273 comments)
4. A Sky News reporter reckons referring to Saoirse Ronan as British is ‘a compliment’ (261 comments)
5. Irish student Ibrahim Halawa’s trial has been postponed for the 12th time (218 comments)
Standout comments
The news of David Bowie’s death shocked and saddened fans during the week.
Elaine Fitzpatrick had this to say about the musician’s passing:
When someone asked me my achievements as a parent I always say .. 1. Teaching my daughter to read and 2. the lyrics to space oddity
While Deborah Behan noted:
Every weekend of my childhood my dad would kick back with Van the man, the Stones and his favourite Bowie. I’m gutted, there are no words for what my dad is.
British actor Alan Rickman also died of cancer during the week. He too was 69 years old.
He had several famous roles, but many people associate him with Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films.
Dave Nolan wrote:
“I don’y play villains… I play interesting people…” He will be missed.
Irish audiences will remember his turn as Eamon DeValera in Neil Jordan’s 1996 biopic of Michael Collins. Éamonn Mac Eochaidh certainly does:
I’ll remember him most for bringing Eamon de Valera to life in Michael Collins.
RIP.
In other news, many of you chimed in on a discussion about the Irish Cancer Society ‘s hardship fund being shut down due to unmanageable demand. The decision was later partially reversed.
Aisling wrote:
My father passed away in September from lung cancer and the help and support the Irish Cancer Society gave us, and continues to give us, is incredible. They do fantastic work and the fact that they have to close this programme is awful, it really is needed. I’m almost afraid to think of the impact it will have on families of cancer patients who are already struggling to get by and now have to pay for everything that comes with long, draining, cancer treatments, appointments, etc. It’s terrible that a fund is so badly needed in the first place, and now that it’s gone it will be a huge loss.
Finally, it was a great week for Irish film, with Saoirse Ronan, Michael Fassbender and Lenny Abrahamson all receiving Oscar nominations.
Emma Keaveney had this to say about Abrahamson’s Room, which is up for best picture among other nods:
Room originated with an Irish production company – Element Pictures. It was directed by an Irish man, produced by an Irish man and the screenplay was written by an Irish woman, based on her award winning novel of the same name. The music was written by an Irish man and the editor is Irish.
It was filmed in Canada because, like so many films produced outside the studio system, it relied on international co-production deals in order to get financed and produced. The terms of these contracts often dictate that, in order to quality for Canadian funding, for example, a certain of amount of production needs to be carried out in Canada. A lot of features filmed in Ireland follow the same model, even though they originate in other countries. If you look closely at the production structures of most European films, the vast majority follow the exact same model.
In terms of its funding and the genesis and drive of the idea and project, this is absolutely an Irish film. If anything it’s to be commended for stepping away from the idea that an Irish film HAS to be set in Ireland. I hope it encourages Irish filmmakers to be more ambitious in the scope of their projects and more creative in producing films.
Meanwhile david dickson commented:
Onward and upward for Irish films. Hope we bag some of them.
As so say all of us.
See any good comments? Email them to orla@thejournal.ie.
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