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 …
So here, in no particular order, are the standout comments from the week that was.
The 5 most popular comments this week
1. On the news that Derek Brockwell was detained in Belfast, Sam had a simple thought. 4,904 amount of you agreed.
Now ship him back to the uk
2. One reader had an ironic response to this controversial Garda tweet:
Gary Guilfoyle‘s suggestion?
It was a black protestant female traveller from Pakistan.
2,895 of you approved.
3. Piotrek Król also had some thoughts on Derek Brockwell, getting 2,572 green thumbs.
Hang on a minute, he was serving “almost two dozen life sentences” in the UK and escaped?? Why has he been serving a 7 year sentence in Portlaoise then?
4. Shakka1244 shared a popular opinion on water charges – with 1,982 people agreeing.
Not everyone that is against water charges (to begin with) and now the Government is a shinner, a loony leftist or a layabout.I’m none of these yet I’m strongly opposed to water charges and the Government.Please stop labeling everyone that displays discontent with the way this country is run as a shinner, loony leftist or layabout. It’s not only completely unrepresentative of people that oppose water charges and the Government but insulting and frankly rather boring.
5. This observation by Who’s Yer Man on Barney McGinley’s funeral got 1,972 green thumbs.
Interesting hearing Martin Collins of Pavee Point just on Matt Cooper describing the Gardaí’s presence as being heavy handed, despite being there as a result of a man being shot at a wedding. He was also critical of the businesses in the area shutting their doors.Didn’t really address the trouble within the community and what can be done there to prevent these feuds.
The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week
1. Will new family law impact same-sex marriage vote? (461 comments)
2. My child was diagnosed as ‘incompatible with life’ but I’m glad Clare Daly’s bill was voted down (414 comments)
3. Four water charge protesters are going to jail (355 comments)
4. Poll: Have you decided how you’ll vote in the same-sex marriage referendum? (328 comments)
5. Water charge protesters create traffic chaos on O’Connell Street (314 comments)
Debate of the week
Last Sunday night, there was an interesting debate on whether children should be vaccinated or not. David Vaughan had some first-hand experience to kick things off.
Just to add my two cents..I’m currently at home, off work until March, after getting mumps at age 38 about 3 weeks ago.Mum made the best decision she could based on the information she had. But due to Andrew Wakefield and his false information and scare tactics about the MMR vaccine, she had me given the older measles/rubella vaccine, not the MMR.The effects of not being immunised showed up 3 weeks ago, resulted in a week in hospital, and it’ll be a total of 6 weeks off work. It’s been fun, not.If you don’t give your kid’s the vaccine, you’re leaving a sword hanging over your kids for their future.The sword dropped on me more than 30 years later. Don’t let it happen to your kids.
Mother Laura Earley responded:
I’m very sorry to hear that you are ill, but just to clarify wakefields report was not published until 1998, you would have received your vaccine back in the last 70′s/early 80′s the same as me…it was not just Wakefield who had issues with the vaccine, my own parents had the separate ones done for me privately due to controversy surrounding them in 1982. I have a son with Autism who showed no signs until just after the MMR. He went from a happy, smiling bubbly little fella to making no eye contact and losing all his words. Is it linked personally I think so, and therefore i did not get the second one for him. My choice and i believe the best for my son.
I hope you are better soon.
The final word here to David Jordan.
Laura, I run a social group for adults with autism and Aspergers. We have people who are mild like myself to people who are severe and don’t talk much. No one in the group thinks MMR causes autism. Many are in their 30s and 40s and 50s, our eldest member is nearly 70. Most born years before the MMR came out. Autism and Aspergers was just as common in the past as it is now, many older people with autism struggled without a diagnosis until late in life.When I was diagnosed my mother asked me if there was anything she might have done that caused me to have Aspergers. Of course not. Autism and Aspergers are mostly genetic, though it’s complex and can skip generations. If one identical twin has autism there’s a 90% chance the other twin with have autism as well, to at least a mild degree.Sometimes when a child is diagnosed with autism, a parent, usually the father, might realise he has Aspergers. Or it’s realised they have a relation or two who are socially isolated, eccentric or also have a diagnosis of autism or Aspergers.Oddly enough we have two distantly related members who are related via Brendan Behan, they never met until they came to the group.
Read the rest of the thread here.
Other standout comments of the week
An Englishman in Dublin… Jon Burkin shares his thoughts on his new home.
“I’m an Englishman living in Ireland 13 years. Like it or not this is only my opinion.
I don’t think many of the Irish tourist spots are great. To be honest most are brutal. The best things about Ireland are free. One off the biggest attractions of Ireland and the reason I live here and not back in London is the people of Ireland. You will never feel like you are alone when on your own in this country. Go get a pint turn to the person next to you and say something like “the weather was good today” and you will have a friend for the night. Every morning I walk the dog in Dublin City someone will say good morning. That’s why you need to come to Ireland because you don’t get it anywhere in the world and I have traveled quite a lot.
We took a trip down memory lane this week following a shocking story that lots of parents don’t read to their kids anymore.
Abbi Cranky said:
My dad did all the voices for Gulliver’s Travels. We nearly raced to bed.But the one book me and all my sisters read was Matilda by Roald Dahl.
It resonated for all of us.
Del Haven added:
All I can remember is those adventure books where you’d have to turn to a specific page to continue or read the outcome. Great and slightly quirky father I have. He used to make us orange sandwiches too, exactly how you might think they’d be made. Love him.
There were also some fond memories of Lent and the things we gave up. TheDoctor said:
I have up sugar as a child and lasted 39 days. I still get pangs of guilt all these years later. I was so close.
Meanwhile, Craig Barry saw the upside of giving away a naval ship:
That’s 12 points from Malta in the Eurovision
Former minister Pat Carey’s decision to speak publicly about his sexuality got a big reaction. Joe Travers had the top-rated comment on the story:
Politics aside, it must have been hard for a man of pats age who carried this burden for years (by burden I mean wanting to come out) to come out. Imagine hiding this from a staunch catholic ireland for so long. Fair play to you Pat. Hope others feel that they too are not too old to let themselves be free.
Sticking with politics, Lester Jeffcoat had a suggestion for what Sinn Féin should call its alternative to JobBridge:
Amazeybridge.
We approve.
Also, a shout-out to Mrs Shalakalananaka.
Finally, we’ll leave you this quintessential Sunday-night memory from jenni.
Ah jaysus…i remember my mum getting us all ready for bed early..and trying to convince us to get to bed early because something was going to happen in Glenroe tonight!!! I was allowed to stay up but was asked to get the biscuits when the roll in the hay moment started and I watched through the crack in the door. Not only an eye opener for me…my Mum and Dad were gobsmacked it was on tv…a great moment I will cherish
With contribution by Órla Ryan
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