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, water charges and Electric Picnic.
The 5 most popular comments this week
1. The most-liked comment (1,751 votes) this week comes from Kevin Carroll, who had this to say about our election coverage:
Great election coverage journal. Top notch. Less of the click baity stuff and more of this. Great stuff
2. In the aftermath of the election, Tom Buckley got 1,750 green thumbs for this comment:
Excuse me for the crude analogy
Irish politics is like possessing two pairs of underpants
You put up with the first pair until they become unbearable
You then switch to the second pair
Enduring them until they too become unbearable
So unbearable in fact the first and still unwashed pair are starting to look like an attractive alternative again
FF and FG
3. Taking third spot is trashbaby, who got 1,680 likes for this input under an article about striking Luas drivers:
Taking the piss at this stage. Haven’t met a single person who believes they deserve the pay hike they’re demanding.
Talks on averting Easter weekend strikes are expected to begin on Monday at the Workplace Relations Commission. Siptu has insisted the dispute is about more than pay rises.
4. Speaking on RTÉ’s Prime Time on Tuesday night, Agriculture and Defence Minister Simon Coveney said Fine Gael would be “willing to talk about water” in government negotiations.
Some 1,248 people liked Dave Sherman‘s comment:
If that’s not a U turn I don’t know what is.
Health Minister Leo Varadkar later said his colleague’s comments were taken out of context, and he never said water charges would be scrapped.
5. When an asylum seeker was jailed for five years for raping a woman after offering her a lift home, selfsustainable wrote:
5 years???? 5 bloody years???? shame on judicial system in this country. those poor women have a life sentence before them because of what this animal did.
Some 1,387 of you agreed.
The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week
1. The Catholic Church still doesn’t get the horror of child abuse (333 comments)
2. Enda Kenny says people should keep paying their water charges (298 comments)
3. Poll: Should we abolish water charges? (268 comments)
4. Sinn Féin will try to go into government – but is on high alert for another election (248 comments)
5. Why Sinn Féin had a good election – but not a great election (238 comments)
Standout comments
During the week thousands of homes were left without power due to Storm Jake, leading Mandy Seiler to comment:
Haven’t we become so dependent on everything electric? When we had power outage in our old house we had at least an Aga. We had our own well, meaning no water. That was inconvenient but you could work around it as you were out of the house for most of the day anyway. We could still cook, wash and stay warm. Now most houses don’t have the solid fuel option anymore; it’s terrible for the elderly and families with small kids. All the oil in the tank is of no use then. One can only hope they have families to go to, or someone calling by till power is restored.
Under an article about virtual reality house viewings possibly becoming the norm in Ireland, An Observer had this, er, observation:
Virtual reality viewing of rental properties in Ireland right now. Close your eyes. There you are.
When LCD Soundsystem was announced as one of the Electric Picnic headline acts, Gareth Stewart wrote:
‘You spend the first 5 years trying to get with the plan and the next 5 years trying to be with your friends again.’ Sums up my twenties perfectly.
Any excuse to play this.
On foot of Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton’s success on Super Tuesday, Tweed Cap commented:
Rumour has it Putin now prefers to watch the American presidential campaign instead of the Simpsons
When news broke that Keith Duffy and Brian McFadden were forming a duo called ‘Boyzlife’ (Boyzone and Westlife, geddit?), you guys had some suggestions for what they should be called instead.
Ted Murray suggested:
S Club 2.
While Floodzie favoured this:
“Take What”
Michael Kenny added:
Or new men on the block
And Jimbo Byrne went for:
Midlife?
We can safely assume they’re rethinking the name on foot of these.
The Central Statistics Office released some fascinating stats during the week comparing modern-day Ireland to the country in and around 1916.
The figures – released to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising – look at topics such as population, marriages, death rates, emigration, and the most popular baby names of both eras.
Motherofdivinejebus had this remark:
You mean there were no little girls born in 1916 with the name Beyoncé or little lads with the name Maximillian?
Surprisingly, no.
Meanwhile, a lot of you were happy with the news that a massive €223 million Center Parcs resort is on its way to Longford – pointing to the boost it will give the county. Although Alan Tormey asked a a valid question:
Ok who’s going to bring the Sun?
On foot of watching an incredible music instrument made from 2,000 marbles in action, john had this to say:
the human mind is truly amazing.
Finally, after his comment was the most liked on the site last week, Niall Duffy pondered:
Comment of the week! Made my day. Can I put on my CV
Yes you can, Niall – it’s one of the top ten pieces of information potential employers look for.
See any good comments? Email them to orla@thejournal.ie.
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