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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 Rose of Tralee and the Eighth Amendment.
The 5 most popular comments this week
1. After a woman whose Dublin home featured on the RTÉ programme Room to Improve settled her damages claim against presenter and architect Dermot Bannon, along with the show’s producers and the firm that carried out the work, David Dickenson got 1,319 green thumbs for this:
A few before and after photos wouldn’t have killed anyone.
2. International Boxing Association (AIBA) President Ching-Kuo Wu hit out at the behaviour of Michael Conlan at the Rio Olympics, where he called the AIBA “f*****g cheats”.
Wu said: “A lot of disciplinary action will follow. You should show proper behavior.”
Kieran Woods got 1,178 likes for this comment:
Mr. Wu your organisation is a complete joke
3. Jarrett moon got 1,166 likes for this comment on remarks made by Sydney Rose Brianna Parkins about abortion at the Rose of Tralee, where she said: “I would love to see a referendum on the Eighth [Amendment] coming up soon.”
One way or another she is entitled to her view.
4. Police in Sussex reported media commentator Katie Hopkins to Twitter over a post which made light of the deaths of five men in a seaside tragedy.
Diarmuid Lenihan got 1,093 seals of approval for this input:
Idiotic woman.
5. The fifth most popular comment comes from Titus Groan, who had this to say about the abortion comments at the Rose of Tralee:
The Rose is right. Voicing any opinion is better than not. Are they literally supposed to stand there and look pretty? They’re actual women with thoughts. Jeez.
That one got 1,016 likes.
The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week
1. Two Irish women live-tweet UK abortion journey to Enda Kenny (437 comments)
2. Photos have emerged of armed French police telling a woman to remove a ‘burkini’ (346 comments)
3. Health Minister thanks two women who live-tweeted their abortion journey (319 comments)
4. “I never imagined the State would use such underhanded tactics to try and shame a private citizen” (266 comments)
5. Health Minister says it was “important” to respond to women who live-tweeted their abortion journey (264 comments)
Standout comments of the week
Last weekend two Irish women live-tweeted their journey to England, where one of them was having an abortion.
Laura Grimes had this to say:
No woman wants to have an abortion but at times they are making the best choice for them. Not all ‘Pro Life’ are religious nuts, Pro Choice aren’t Baby Killers. People this a very emotive topic , stop the childish name calling as it distracts from the issue. I have no doubt that this is the hardest journey this woman, will ever make, she will be taking no joy in these tweets, she is highlighting that woman do not have access to safe abortions in Ireland. Sad day but brave women
Annalise Murphy got a hero’s welcome as she arrived home in Ireland with her silver medal from the Rio Olympics.
There was a touching moment when she met her grandmother Betty Murphy at Dublin Airport.
Kerry Blake wrote:
“Nan I did it” says it all Annalise congratulations and well done Ireland and your family is proud of you.
Our reporter Daragh Brophy recently spent a day in Knock, Co Mayo. Under his article about his time at the pilgrimage site, Garreth Byrne wrote:
I have had the pleasant experience, twenty years ago, of flying home for a holiday from Blantyre in Malawi to Heathrow and then from Stanstead to Knock. Seeing the stonewalled farms, the bogs and the patches of planted forest as the plane made its landing approach, and then getting the strong whiff of furze blossom and wild hedges as my taxi left the airport surrounds, was a miracle of nature. Msgr. James Horan was a man of strong faith and a Mayoman of practical vision. James Horan liberated Mayo and the West from geographical isolation in the 1980s, just as the Land League leader Michael Davitt in the 1870s liberated tenant farmers from rack-renting slavery. Horan and Davitt – two great names from Mayo. And Knock is a miracle.
This week marked the one year anniversary of a US firefighter receiving a full face transplant. Patrick Hardison (42) from Senatobia, Mississippi, was disfigured when the roof of a burning home collapsed on top of him in 2001.
He spoke about his new lease of life since the transplant, and his happiness at being able to drive and swim again.
Joey_Westland commented:
Unimaginable what trauma this man has been through.
Great to see him smiling again with his family there beside him.
A real hero.
Under a poll asking if readers would donate their body to medical science (about half of voters would), Joan Brennan shared this experience:
My aunt, who had no children, donated her body. There was a funeral but instead of being buried her body was taken away. It all happened quickly as embalming is not possible. Two years later we received a call to say she would be buried, by the college of surgeons and we were invited to attend. A priest officiated at the burial at the college’s mass grave in Glasnevin. It was really a beautiful ceremony. And cost her relatives nothing, which was part of her plan. I believe that bodies donated to science are not studied in their own country to avoid the danger of a relative coming across the body. Some time later, at, I presume an annual event, a ceremony of remembrance was held which included a representative of all religions of students. It included Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, as well as Muslin, Jehovah Witness and of course, the different parts of Christianity. To anyone seriously considering this, I say Go for it.
Darren Tully added:
Yes, but my first preference would be for my organs to be donated to people who need transplants.
During the week, up to 1,400 people – and plenty of protesters – turned up to see a controversial South African pastor, Angus Buchan, give a talk in Kilkenny. He claims prayer can ‘cure’ gay people.
We’ll leave the final word to Blind Faith, who wrote:
Can he not cure his own delusional notions? . . . I bet he couldn’t even cure a ham.
See any good comments? Send them to orla@thejournal.ie.
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This ‘banned list’ thing is rubbish, all dogs no matter which breed has the potential to attack – when are we going to learn it’s how they are treated & brought up. Surely if there were concerns that this dog was dangerous (no matter what breed) it should not have been returned to be allowed to roam free.
Obviously that dog knew nothing but violence and misery. His owner is the murderer. B@$tard.
Problem is there are too many of these dangerous terrier-type dogs around. What is wrong with getting a poodle, a schnauzer, or a flipping cockapoo? Too many people feel they need the Pitt on the leash and they can’t handle them.
The type of owner these dogs attract is the problem.
The actual problem some dog owners have a lower IQ than the dog and these people seam to be attracted to dogs which have a higher tendency if mistreated to be aggressive.
*seem
all other things being equal, some dogs do have a greater propensity for attacking people / other dogs
The list doesn’t work perfectly because it’s a rigid & cheap way to deal with the problem. Instead of a simple ban list, dogs should have their breed and behaviour profiled by a specialist whenever someone makes a report. But even this isn’t perfect. Some dogs will attack before a report can be made.
This idea that we should forget about breed entirely is silly though. There are certain dog breeds more prone to and more capable of causing great harm to humans and this should be considered as part of the specialist profiling I mentioned. It’s never going to be perfect, so why ignore breed if it makes profiling more accurate?
True. Breed is number 1 to look out for. A bull mastiff can kill a child vs a miniature schnauzer who can merely lick the child. Before the pro-pitties shoot me down, I will confess that not all terrier, Doberman and Alsatian types are dangerous.
What we need in Britain is the return of dog licensing. At the end of the day, as a dog owner you’re responsible for a sharp-toothed mammal which is not properly accountable for its own actions or capable of understanding human laws. Scrapping the dog licence – yet another short-sighted boo boo legacy from Thatcher’s time in office.
Keep your dog on a leash. It’s the law!
Well said!
I can’t imagine what he went through in his last moments on this earth..Rip..
It’s being reported that someone threw him a knife but being a dog lover he refused to use it.
He fell into unconsciousness while the dog was still savaging him. Police who arrived on the scene used a fire extinguisher to make the dog back off.
What the hell was the 29 year owner doing? He should be done for manslaughter…might make some of those degenerates think twice before ill-treating dogs to the point that they are ready to kill. Not so amusing now, is it. Poor, poor gentleman and his little companion… Very sad.
Throw the owner in a dog pit.
See how he likes that.
Simple!! Ban all dogs they serve no purpose, except for the exceptional dogs that are trained to find bombs and help blind people
Max i cannot imagine that being popular
Jesus this is horrific! I can’t even imagine it, the thought he had of just taking his own friend for a walk, who probably didn’t make it either. Tragic.
The problem with this type of dog is the specialised management the breed needs, a lot of the time those who are buying these dogs are buying them for the look of them!, it is nonsense to state any dog has the propensity to to do this damage, I have a chihuahua and a little Pom mix and neither would be capable of this, as neither would a lot of breeds, even if a breed is capable of this it would take a dog that has been very badly treated to behave in this savage manner, the dog should never have been returned to his owner if there was any doubt regarding the dog’s welfare or public safety, poor man died trying to save his little companion, very sad…..
They hold on to dogs, for months if not years, who have no behavioral issues and are much loved family pets, and then they return this one to his owner. How about getting rid of this useless legislation and replacing it with Owner Specific or Dangerous Owner Legislation. It’s the idiot people who are the real problem.
You guys shouldn’t have dogs. They are animals plain and simple. Pack animals with great senses which.makes them usefull to us. No matter what an owner does and doesn’t do all dogs have this in them and will attack smaller animals asserting there dominance. If you don’t believe this and are snuggling up to your “best friend” your an idiot and shouldn’t have one. Grown men and women acting like children with there dogs is wrong and the animal will think it is the alfa male not you.
Looked like a pit bull, behaved like a vicious pit bull and killed a human being.
Some dogs, if they turn vicious, have the capacity to use powerful jaws to kill human beings. The issue is capacity to kill. Other breeds of dog may turn vicious, due to maltreatment, but will only injure you, not kill you.
I was on a bicycle at 21 years of age and was savaged by German Shepherd, which sudden,y attacked me. I still have scars on my thighs and calves. I used the bicycle to fend off and then to hit the dog as the owner, a young lad threatened me and tried to hit me.
The young owner and his parents then reported me to the Garda Siochana for an unprovoked attack on the dog but it turned out that the dog was the subject of previous complaints. The Guards told me that they could persuade the family to drop the charges if I dropped any complaint. The dog caused havoc locally until it suddenly disappeared.
Jaw strength is the primary lethal factor. Most dogs are wonderful and, despite the one bad experience, I love dogs and don’t feel nervous of them.
Had it been a pit bull or a pit bull type dig with super jaw strength I would likely have been killed, not scarred.
Wow, sounds bad.
Imagine having that lot as neighbours.
These idiots complained against YOU? Freakin world’s gone mad
All these so called do-gooder and animal lovers better take heed of this story and don’t be so quick to prevent a suspected dangerous dog from being put down.I have a small Westoe dog and it is worrying when you see a huge breed of dog coming towards you with some dope who’s supposed to have it muzzled and on a lead. There needs to be more done to make sure the owners comply with the rules.
Totally agree
Thuggish people like thuggish dogs.
The dog was NOT a banned breed, therefore this law is rubbish and the 29 year old should go to prison and never ever be own an animal and be kept in captivity all his life
Yep and the idiots who let this dog go back to its owner have a vicious horrible death on their hands.
I’m for castrating and muzzling LOTS of breeds AND dogs with obvious behavioural problems.
No human life is worth it
The usual crazies will be on here saying its not the breed, its the owner…..poor fella. All large attack dogs should be on a muzzle, period.
These “crazies” watch too much of that clown Milan. All dogs are dangerous on some level. They all have this in them they are pack animals and will attack smaller dogs if they feel like it. They also will turn on anyone who tries and stops them if they fly in to a rage. If you don’t believe this or don’t think dogs are simply animals you shouldn’t have one.
Large and dangerous dogs shouldn’t be bred. Simple as that. All this nonsense about lists and how owners treat them just muddies the obvious reality. They’re unpredictable animals who could rip a child’s face off and we put up with them living beside us? RIP to that poor man too, as good as eaten alive on the street
R.I.P. I’m a dog lover but in that situation, given a knife, I’d have no hesitation in using it.
Calling for all dogs to be banned ffs. Why do I have to live in the same country as these morons. No wonder we live in a sad little nanny state. These gobshiites are actually allowed to vote. The same fools who want cigarette machines banned thinking that no one will smoke anymore. A country full of gobshiites I tell you.
While I agree that larger breeds of dogs can do more damage, I do think that BSL is completely pointless. It’s idiotic to think that a pitbull, Staffie or German Shepard etc can do any more damage than a labrador, golden retriever, Boxer or any other dog of the same size and weight. Any large dog has the potential to be dangerous with the wrong owners so targeting a small selection is ineffective and there’s plenty of research out there to back it up. In fact the degenerates our society are probably more attracted to owning ‘restricted breeds’.
My heart goes out to this poor man and his family. What a horrific tragedy. RIP
Such a well written post. Yes. And tragic
Don’t look at the dog, look at the owner.
Man killed by dog. Not by dog’s idiot owner.
Muzzle these large vicious attack dogs ( who cares what the breed is) or euthanasia.
And a bit of law enforcement would be welcome
It was very foolish of him sacrificing his life to save his dog. The second the pit bull attacked his dog he should have run for the hills. Now look at the result he’s dead and his dog is alive. I’m sure that’s no comfort to his family. A human life is way more precious than an animal’s. All dogs should be banned. They are all dangerous on some level.
@Amy, spoken like a true animal lover!, that little dog was his companion that he loved enough to try to save, no one to blame here but the dog’s obvious negligent owner and the authorities who released the dog back into his care, I personally could never live in a world without dogs!
I wouldn’t fo as far aa banning all dogs but definitely would agree that all dogs are dangerous on some level. They are animals and can lose it at anytime no.matter what the owner does. With a jack russel you can kick it off with a Pit Bull your dead. Obviously the pokice didn’t see a danger until it was too late. The dog attacked a smaller dog this is what they do and turned on the guy again all dogs have this in them.
Almost every dog authority (and we’re not talking shelters, pounds or a random vet) agrees it’s not about a particular breed. That notion is totally debunked. In different areas it’s different breeds. From collies and terriers in Irelands to staffies in other countries. In Sweden they use German Shepherds in their ads for “bring your dog to the store”. Some places haev removed problem breeds from areas and seen an INCREASE in bites. Policy must not be focused on “problem breeds”. I wrote a piece on how redundant the idea of the goverments recent proposal for “dangerous breed” signs” in dog parks was (https://www.facebook.com/DogsFirstIreland/photos/a.396088297121219.90023.154235037973214/1121008684629173/?type=3&theater). It was well received. Check out the references at the bottom of this article for major groups that stipulate it is not about particular breeds, and the references are not a random shelter but include authorities like The National Canine Research Centre, National Animal Control Assoc, American Bar Assoc., American Kennel Club, American Veterinary Assoc etc, even the White House! http://www.dogsfirst.ie/dog-bites-continued/
R i p
Poor guy and poor family whoever was in charge of decision to return this animal should also be held responsible
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