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 forming a government, JobBridge and water charges.
The 5 most popular comments this week
1. The top comment of the week goes to Jayo Breathneach, who had this to say about the Dáil travel expenses scheme:
These expenses need to be scrapped. Ridiculous that someone on a salary that high gets to claim for driving to work when many folk on much lower salaries and longer travel distances have to pay their own commuting costs. Expense culture needs to end in our government, they get paid enough.
That one got 1,684 likes.
2. The same story saw independent TD Katherine Zappone defend her travel and accommodation expenses. Emachine got 1,364 green thumbs for this comment:
The question is not what route she takes but instead, why are we paying for it. I travel 35km to work and 35km home every day which I have to fund from my after tax income, which is a fraction of what she and her ilk earn. Why are we funding their travel as well as our own.
3. Under a poll about who should pay for water charges, Honeybae got 1,294 likes for this input:
Question ignores the fact we already pay for water but why let the truth get in the way of a survey.
4. In another poll we asked readers whether or not they said they had a religion when filling in the census. David Garland got 1,235 thumbs up for this comment:
I had to laugh at some friends on Facebook sharing photos of themselves putting “Jedi” as their religion but only last week they had photos plastered all over Facebook of their child’s confirmation..
5. McNulty Jimmy was unhappy with the wording of the water charges poll, noting:
Very disingenuous question
That comment got 1,187 likes.
The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week
1. Poll: Do you think we should pay for our water? (395 comments)
2. Alan Kelly says future generations will “rue” the proposed Irish Water deal (392 comments)
3. Poll: If water charges are scrapped, should those who paid be refunded? (283 comments)
4. Comments by Leo about FF’s “surreal” focus on water have kicked off a row (248 comments)
5. Water charges might be scrapped – so should we pay our bills? (247 comments)
Standout comments
The Department of Social Protection defended the JobBridge scheme from calls for it to be scrapped following a series of critical newspaper articles.
An article in The Sunday Business Post described the scheme as being “unmanageable” and “out of control” as well as describing how some companies became “hooked” on the scheme.
However, the department rejected this, describing the assertions as “unbalanced”.
The debate prompted Grainne Boyle to share her own experience:
I was an older divorced parent who initially thought Jobbridge was a good idea to help me get back into full time employment. I had years of experience but had been out of the workforce for a few years. After three months on the scheme,I pushed my employer to give me a job as I was helping to win contracts by telesales and creating solid leads for the Sales Rep. I was given a full time job as a Sales Support Administrator on 10 euros per hour. I was hoping for more because I had childcare costs and travel expenses but my employer had the advantage, I was coming off social welfare.
I was however delighted to get the job and for the next year, I was totally devoted to it. I worked long hours (lots unpaid) and continued to win contracts. I was given a handsome bonus at Christmas. However, the good days didn’t last A new person was taken on through Jobbridge after Christmas. After that, the attitude of the Office Manager and employer completely changed towards me. I experienced bullying, hostility, humilation and constant criticism. By August, the situation had become so unbearable, I was forced to quit.
The whole situation left me shell shocked, I had never experienced anything like this in my life. I made so many sacrifices, including the unpaid overtime I choose to do instead of spending time with my kids. I took out a credit union loan to buy a decent car so I could get to work and I still had most of the loan to pay back after I quit.
I am ashamed of the fact that I was totally exploited and I’m not a young person. Jobbridge needs to be totally scrapped.
Brian Houlihan made this point after a toddler accidentally shot his mother in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
So in America kids with guns are more likely to shoot you than ISIS or other terrorists. Forget the war on terror we need billions for the war on toddlers
The death of Patrice Price is the 77th such shooting incident involving a child in the US this year.
A powerful video of men reading threatening tweets sent to female sports reporters went viral during the week.
Larry O’Doherty commented:
That has just sickened me! You could see the lads were disgusted reading them! I’d say if you met these so called men tweeting this they would be the biggest cowards on this planet! Very powerful clip.
The family of Ava Barry – a six-year-old girl with an extremely rare, drug-resistant form of epilepsy – called for cannabidiol (CBD) oil, a form of medicinal marijuana, to be legalised in Ireland.
Ava’s father Paul Barry had this to say about accessing the medicine in Ireland:
It may seem as easy as that but you’re still breaking the law, why should you have to break the law in this country when kids in the US and Australia are being treated legally with the very same medicine?
After members of the public were warned about a motor tax scam email, sparky wrote:
I’ll put that email address in the same box as my Nigerian prince…
Once again, the weather was all over the place – we had a good mix of sun, rain and snow.
There was a debate over whether summer starts in May or June, leading Boganity to write:
So typically Irish we can’t even agree when the seasons start
To be fair, we often have four in one day.
While Joe Murphy noted the sad but true reality of life in Ireland in springtime:
Puffa jackets and woolen hats won’t be put away yet
Meanwhile, after issues about airport security in Russia were raised when a 10-year old girl flew from Moscow to St Petersburg without identification or a ticket, Steve McMahon commented:
I couldn’t even get on a bus at 10
Kids today, eh?
Finally, a DailyEdge article about batch bread prompted Peter Quincy Taggart to comment:
The fights at home over the heeler of the batch!
Heels: yay or nay?
See any good comments? Send them to orla@thejournal.ie.
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