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 commemorating the Easter Rising centenary, the Luas dispute and weightloss.

The 5 most popular comments this week

Seven of the rebel leaders in Enniscorthy. National Library of Ireland National Library of Ireland

1. Dublin Living got 2,046 likes for this comment under an article comparing how much Luas drivers and junior doctors are paid. A FactCheck found that the former are paid more initially but junior doctors start to earn significantly more over time.

This is very misleading. You’re ignoring the 5 years of training so junior doctors start out at zero salary and continue on zero for 5 years. Then they reach internship. Luas drivers are earning a salary from week 8.
What’s worse is that many doctors now enter as graduates which means they PAY 16,000 euro in fees per year just to STUDY to get a degree. They graduate 60,000 EUR in debt which takes 10 years to pay off. And it means they were studying and not earning for 8 years before they became a doctor!
Now, you have made a mistake on the SHO salaries so you’re greatly overstating their pay. SHO’s earn 38K not 44K.
Finally, you can’t believe the HSE’s stats about the hours doctors work. Doctors work more hours than the HSE will officially acknowledge or pay for. Junior doctors have to pay high fees every year for further training and exams. And since doctors work much longer hours than drivers, you should really compare the HOURLY pay of each.

2. David was not impressed a complaint was upheld against a Denny ad where a grandfather looked into the rearview mirror of a car while driving to look at his granddaughter (a viewer thought it could be deemed as encouraging dangerous driving).

Ah ffs!! Who on their right mind would complain about that! Seriously have people nothing better to do?!?

His comment got 1,507 green thumbs.

3. When the bodies of a man and his son were found in a stream in Dublin, Joe Lyster had this to say about comments:

I think the journal should disable the ‘thumbs up-thumbs down’ options in the case of such tragic news. Can’t understand why people ‘dislike’ honest and heart felt messages of condolence and support in such cases. God rest the two persons in this tragic incident.

Some 1,236 people agreed.

4. Goldberg got 1,165 green thumbs for this comment about the possibility of another general election:

If they have another election my first question for any canvassers is if they want to be part of a government – just seems like no one wants to be in government or take any adult responsibility – they should withhold all TDs salaries until a government is formed

5. doorhandler had this to say about striking Luas drivers:

Would love to see them get nothing at all. Stopping working class people going to events to remember men like James Connolly was the lowest act unions have inflicted on Irish people in living memory.

That comment got 1,161 likes.

The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week

1. Poll: Should anti-Islam demonstrations be banned? (296 comments)
2. ‘What is your religion?’ People are being urged to think hard about that come census night (274 comments)
3. Two-week protest on the doorstep of power will aim to push abortion issue (269 comments)
4. James Connolly’s great-great-granddaughter told to ‘go home’ from 1916 event because of English accent (243 comments)
5. FactCheck: Are Luas drivers really paid more than junior doctors? (220 comments)

Standout comments

National Library of Ireland National Library of Ireland

Throughout the week, we’ve been liveblogging the events of Easter week in 1916, as they happened during the Rising.

The wonderfully-named monkeysocks was a bit disappointed the liveblog wasn’t quite live:

Bugger….I was all set to go

Conor McCabe Conor McCabe

After the success of the 1916 commemoration events and RTÉ’s Centenary programme, Brinster wrote:

Have to say that, overall, I thought the celebrations and commemorations over the weekend were by and large excellent.The formality of the Sunday Parades and commemorations contrasted well with the family oriented celebrations yesterday.There was so much on in Dublin and elsewhere yesterday – well done to all involved, especially the thousands of volunteers who made it all possible.

On a less positive note, a great-great-granddaughter of James Connolly said she was verbally abused by a member of the public at a state reception in Dublin last Sunday.

Sarah Connolly told us she was approached at the event by a man who accused her of being disrespectful by speaking during a music performance. She said the man told her “go home” as she did not belong there “with an [English] accent like mine”.

Daniel Ahlstrom weighed in on the subject of accents:

I am an Irishman with an American father, born and raised in Dublin, and thanks to my mixed accent I am constantly being questioned on whether or not I am Irish, once a couple thought I was lying and asked me to name the suburbs of Dublin. Being Irish isn’t about the accent, that man had no right to say that to her.

While Dave O Keeffe added:

Suburbs of Dublin? No idea. Might as well give away my right to vote

British comedian and actor Ronnie Corbett died at the age of 85, leading many people to reminisce about his long-running career.

Andrew wrote:

RIP Ronnie Corbett. A true legend of comedy. A very sad day. Goodnight from me and good night from him.

Here’s a clip of the Two Ronnies in action. Try not to laugh at it.

Sadly it was confirmed that TXFM is coming off the airwaves later this year.

Anna wrote:

Ah no! This is the only station I listen to …

While Martin James Maloney kept it simple:

Ah FFS!

New research published in The Lancet showed that Ireland’s obesity problem is getting worse.

Elle Cooney shared her own experience of weight loss – something a lot of people will likely empathise with:

I’m currently one of those statistics, and it’s very scary. I’m on the way down in terms of weight and have lost a fair bit since overhauling everything last November, but it’s difficult. I didn’t pile on the pounds in a short period of time, it happened from over eating slightly every day for years and going out on the beer at the weekend. I would say 90% of my slow but steady weight gain was due to portion size, not masses of fizzy drinks and sweets. Just a slice of bread or an extra piece of cheese here and a big plate of pasta or rice there.
Moving on from that is a lot harder than saying “oh I won’t drink coke because that’s what made me fat”, it’s a complete change of day to day life and that’s not easy. It took me a long time before I snapped out of it, so I have a lot of sympathy for people who haven’t gotten there yet.

During the week we got to see how Afia, Bristol Zoo’s seven-week-old baby gorilla, is doing. She was delivered by caesarean section in February, weighing just over a kilo, and has been getting round-the-clock care since then.

Uncle Denise made a very eloquent point:

Ooh oooh oooh aahhhh ahhh oooh ooooooh aaaahhhhhh ahhhhhh

Although Del Haven did have this correction:

It’s aaaahhhhh, ffs. Learn your grammar.

Both are acceptable, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

After a British hostage got a photo taken with the EgyptAir hijacker, who was wearing a fake suicide belt, Life in no motion wrote:

It’s a photobomb, not a selfie!

Luckily no bombs were involved in the incident – real or otherwise.

When it was announced US TV network NBC is to broadcast a live performance of the classic play and film A Few Good Men, Conor Cahill gave his two cents about the movie:

These two were the perfect actors to play these characters.
Cruise – naive, young, not fully understanding of the harsh reality of being a Marine, but always swift and strong in reminding his own protectors of doing it the right way.
Nicholson – experienced, cowardly, but excellent in letting even those who hate him know that their feelings about his actions don’t mean s**t when in truth, that’s what they can’t handle.

Trent Strohn on Flickr Trent Strohn on Flickr

Holly Flynn had this to say about the DailyEdge’s list of the 10 sexiest Irish women’s names:

Never the plant based names

We feel you Holly – Órla was also a glaring omission, frankly.

People enjoyed this video of an Irish woman experiencing virtual reality for the first time.

Ziggy722 commented:

They are already talking about using this technology to cure phobias like speaking in public and other more general forms of social anxiety. The possibilities with this technology are immense and positively exciting.

Other readers weren’t so sure:

Finally, TJ Love – a new dating site for our commenters – was in fact an April Fools’ gag.

Alan Ryan hit the nail on the head when he wrote:

Do you comment here often?

See any good comments? Send them to orla@thejournal.ie.