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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, same-sex marriage got you talking more than anything else – with our top five most commented articles all on aspects related to the referendum.
So here, in no particular order, are the standout comments from the week that was.
The 5 most popular comments this week
1. HRH The Brummie got 2,594 green thumbs for his take on Gorse Hill:
Hope they have left a cheque for the court cases they lost. Now back to the UK to your luxury accommodation. I’m sure you won’t be one of the families sleeping in their car tonight or in a shelter.
2. Some 1,878 of you liked Wayne O’Fathaigh‘s comment about Ibrahim Halawa:
Want to do some real reporting and post the video of his political speeches in front of thousands while he was on a family holiday??
3. A woman who hit her son for rioting in Baltimore (see video above) reminded Matt Donovan of someone closer to home, 1,705 of you approved.
Good woman. Almost as good as an irish mammy.
4. Brian power got 1,697 green thumbs for his comment on a story about a missing child:
Fair play journal for using this as an alert for the app. Hope she is found well
Luckily, the girl was found safe and well.
5. Joanna had this to say about a No campaigner who repeatedly asked a Yes campaigner about sex between two men, during a radio debate on same-sex marriage:
Me thinks he’s a little too curious….
1,694 of you agreed.
The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week
1. “The No side seem fixated on the notion of the ‘ideal family’ – whatever that means” (624 comments)
2. ‘There isn’t a celebrity in the country who would dare come out and say they’re voting No’ (380 comments)
3. Poll on same sex marriage shows slight drop in support for ‘Yes’ vote (376 comments)
4. The No campaign’s posters keep getting defaced and ripped down (301 comments)
5. A Yes Equality campaigner was asked on live radio about sex between two men (290 comments)
Standout comments of the week
There was a great exchange on an article about rural pubs. Here’s how it started:
Love a good rural pub
Me: “Any chance of another pint”
Barman: “it’s 3.30am”
Me: “ah go on”
Barman: “Fcuk it, I’ll have one with you”
Barman: “And then I’ll drive you home”. May aswell since I picked you up”.
Me: “Thanks, and I’ll pay you for those last 4 pints tomorrow”
News that the Poolbeg chimneys are staying put was welcomed by a lot of you, including McConnell Mary:
Great that they’ll still be around for future generations. Still remember the feeling you get when they come into view on the ferry to the north wall after being away for 14 yrs.
Although Kian David Griffin isn’t a fan:
I much prefer the sight of our greenery and cliffs when flying back into the country. Then again, our Urban cousins won’t have been exposed to as much beauty as us simple country folk so…lower expectations of what looks good I guess?
The clearly well-travelled Antrim/Kurdistan had a novel idea for the new Children’s Hospital:
Looks like it could host the 2018 champions league final
On a serious note, selita had this to say about a homeless family of six who had to sleep in a car:
As a parent, I am torn by this article. On the one hand, i cannot imagine the stress and upset of being homeless with my children. On the otherhand, I would love to have 4 children, but, i know i cannot afford it, as both of us have to work in order to pay our mortgage, so we made the decision to have a smaller family, so as not to be in this situation. This man has 4 children under the age of 4 years, and ‘lost his job a few years ago’ and i assume his wife is not working.
why should I work, and pay taxes, for others to have a large family, when it is something that many other working parents would love to do?
This man needs to cop on, life is hard, and you cant have what you want. he is irresponsible having children when he clearly cannot provide from them.
After Kasey Kelly (4) lost her battle against a brain tumour, Sam Bartell said what a lot of people were thinking:
Thoughts with her family, just heartbreaking. Such a brave little soul. Rest in peace
As it emerged that all Irish citizens in Nepal are safe after the devastating earthquake, Laurence Cavanagh summed it up well:
Great news for our nation.Hopefully every other nation is as fortunate as us.And hopefully we can start an effort quickly to bring comfort to the suffering there and start the process of rebuilding as soon as the rescue phase is done.
Meanwhile, Michelle Ní Dhubhlaíocht had this response to a baby being found alive in the rubble:
Nothing short of a miracle.
See any good comments? Send them on to sinead@thejournal.ie
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why all the fuss leave them up there
@PW: I think that’s what they did, removed at 8am, just in time for breakfast
@PW: gotta make way for Santa’s sleigh
Should spray them with water and leave them over night. Wouldn’t need any so called special trained staff to get them down then.
@Seán Dillon: that’s my brother your talking about
@Seán Dillon: i second that.
@Martin Scaldbag: and what
@Martin Scaldbag: Nobody cares
@Seán Dillon: Or just put some thought into designing prison roofs so it’s not possible to stay up there. I.e., steep roofs, roof access only possible with scaffolding or cherry-pickers, no parapet to stop you sliding off, etc.
@Conall: yeah good idea, unfortunately most of these prisons are old and retain the old structures for imprisonment.
@Seán Dillon: unfortunately its now considered inhumane to use water on prisoners, load of nonsense i know…
As a member of the EU we should lobby to be able to transfer Prisoners on disciplinary to other Prisons throughout the EU. So the likes of those convicts that assault staff, or as in this case endanger staff having to get them down, could be shipped off to a Romanian, Bulgarian or Baltic States Prison etc for a few months. A form of Shenigan treaty for Prisons. You could bet they would sing a different time when they returned.
@Mick.: would you not have Romanian and Bulgarian prisoners constantly acting up so they could stay at mountjoy hilton
@Darren Byrne: There are much easier Prisons to choose from in Scandinavia. But those States I mentioned know how to deal with their own disruptive convicts far more effectively than we do. The “Touchy Feely Bleeding Hearts” have very little input into their Prison Systems.
@Mick.: welcome back
Someone should have told them the magic sleigh is coming tonight to fly them away
@Kieran Monaghan: doesn’t take very much imagination to think up of a few ways to get them down quickly! And the specialist’s wouldn’t be needed either!
Specially trained negotiators? I hope the conversation was brief ‘ get the f… down or f…ing freeze.
They were prob just fixing their sky dish (that is mugs are paying for)
Get their mammies to come tell em get down like they did in Spike Island way back or just leave em dere.
Shame they were “Safely” removed….
Why the Carolina flack comments closed
@Karllye kripton: cause she beat 7 shades of shite out of her boyfriend and now she’s being prosecuted for it.
@Adrian™: that’s what he was into‘allegedly’
@Adrian™: I’ll bet if the shoe was on the other foot the media would have a field day with it
( doesn’t matter what foot it’s on for the record it’s wrong,, but I can’t stand double standards)
I would have used a sniper!
ah come on , they were looking for a chimney to come down tomorrow morning.
Another joke of a government department
Government can’t even secure our prisons….it’s a joke
And it’s up like a bird and it’s over the city, 3 men are missing I heard a warder cry………..
Does Santa have a key for Solitary to deliver present…..
Smarter than I thought. Waited for the weather warnings to clear.
Because there’s criminal proceedings and the journal respects the right to a fair trial
They should have shot them, then they would fall from the roof and hey presto problem solved and as an added bonus more prison spaces would be freed up
I’m all for leaving them up there. Or knocking them off with plastic bullet
Send up a Drone with a few pints, tell them it’s on the slate:
Protest over them having to make Xmas cards for next year .
Waiting for the drone with the xmas parcel. I’d say they’ll be a happy lot over the festive season
Punters Pal..explain?
have your say