EVERY SATURDAY MORNING we like to take a look at all the best comments left on the site by you lot over the past week.

The news over the past seven days has been dominated by one story - Budget 2013. There’s been thousands of comments left on the site about the impact of the cuts,if they were fair and whether the government made the right decisions or not.

So, in a break from the usual format, today’s best comments are going to be all the best comments made by readers about the Budget. In no particular order, here they are.

The cut to the respite care grant upset many carers. Stephen Wilkie told his story:

My wife cares for me after I had an accident and this cut is really heartbreaking. We get no other help and this payment helped out so much. Suppose its easy to kick someone when they are down. We are rock bottom at the moment.

Meanwhile Caroline Brown pointed to all the work done by her mother, who is a carer:

My mother is a carer and saves the state a lot of money by caring for a severely ill sibling. If these people can’t protest then I believe every close relative should unite and rise up together to protest, in their name, to have this despicable act overturned. These carers devote 24/7 365 doty and are the most selfless of people – a far cry from those corrupted buffoon politicians.

Pensioner Mary Bradley explained how she was going to be affected:

after working 53 years and paying my taxes,i am now a pensioner who this time round this budget has cut my fuel allowance again they cut it last year,increased my medication charges, and cut my telephone allowance,do they understand the stress this is causing people? it will drive some pensioners over the edge,oh and they offered me a half pension after working 53 yrs,the pensioners in this country built the country and now they are trown on the scrap heap,shame on our government!

Sean Beag was one of a number of people who commented about the impact – or lack of – for people who are self-employed:

I think the worst treated people at the moment are the self employed. Imagine paying all that tax and getting sod all in social welfare if your business goes under.

Here’s Penguin Nation on the impact of the changes to the Drug Payment Scheme:

well the drug payment scheme will cost me 1728euro next year. the prsi will mean a deduction of 264 like everyone else. on top of having to pay for gp visits to monitor the drugs i’ll be taking, i’m pretty much only working to pay for my illness. my car will be 13 years old next year,dont even know if i can get it through nct. tax hike won’t help my pocket. it’ll be a fairly lean year. i’m screwed.

Louise Roche-Evans pointed out the difficulties paying for a long-term illness:

I would would be so grateful if the most I had to pay out was €19.50 a month,as a parent to a bad asthmatic child I pay a fortune to the GP and pharmacy and at times I have no choice but to pay by credit card as you can’t put off a visit if your child needs a nebuliser,if people on the medical card were given the full value of what their prescription cost’s each month if they were to pay the full amount it probably would make them say “thank god I’m getting all this for half nothing”,anyway that’s my rant over, from a mammy that gets no help with health costs

Fon Ellard noted that there had been no coverage of one cut which could have negative effects for many people:

There seems to be little or no outcry for the 60% cut in the Household Benefits package which will mean people having to get rid of their telephones (Telephone allowance gone from €22.50 per month to €9.50) & also the fact that the electricity allowance will no longer be given in units but a flat rate of €35 so if the price per unit goes up then they get less units. This is affecting the most vulnerable, the elderly and those on disability who are already struggling to keep warm this winter. Add to that the trebling of the prescription charge and it means that the elderly or disabled are going to end up paying more over a year than I will with the PRSI changes. How’s that fair?

And all this while those who can afford to pay more are let off the hook yet again. There’s no imagination in this government and not much of a backbone either or they could re-negotiate Croke Park to make far more savings than cutting the Respite or Household Benefits package. I don’t think Labour help in this regard as I can’t see them going against the unions.

Luca Costa was pragmatic about how he had been hit…:

I’ll save by having no more fun. Anything extra I get from now on is saved, and I’ll stop the little luxury I had. Hence, my contribution to spending is gone (like a lot if others I’d say) and I cannot see this growth forecast coming to fruition. Therefore we’re f*****d again next year.

… as was Shane Farrell:

Whilst I hate paying more I would sleep easier if I thought the €264 was going to the carers, home helps etc and not the fooking bankers and other wasters.

Some users were frustrated at the lack of protests over the Budget. Here’s Mara Byrne:

Vanessa, you are so right, I was at the Dail tonight protesting, It was pitiful, we are far too complacent, we wait for our parents to complain, we are the spoilt generation, I am ashamed. We are being screwed left, right and center and won’t realise for ten years. We are the laughing stock, every 3 billion handed over, we just allow it? Fools we are, the biggest fools in Europe.

Vincent Dolan argued that the entire social welfare system needs to be changed:

What our social welfare system needs is one massive injection of means testing. This Irish idea of being “entitled” needs to be replaced with the idea of “need”. If you have a BMW parked outside you don’t need Children’s Allowance, so you’re not getting it. If you’re 80 and a millionaire you don’t need a medical card. It needs to be across the board with tax payers money being taken off those who don’t need it and given to people to help them get on their feet and into the workplace. Why does this seem so impossible to make happen?

Things weren’t all serious, though. Conor Conneally had this plan to save some money post-Budget:

I plan to suck the moisture from the
Walls in my bathroom for nutrition.

I should save a couple of quid from my food budget

Meanwhile Geoff Langan was in fighting mood - but Gavin McDonnell and Sandra Turner quickly weighed in:

Watched Braveheart the other night so I’m up for some revolting outside government buildings – “you can take me money but you’ll never take me FREEDOMMMMMM!!!!”

They’ve just announced a freedom tax though

no it’s a levy not a tax…

We did try to find comments which were positive towards the Budget but – well, they were very thin on the ground (i.e. non-existent). It seems the news of the cuts galvanised people who were going to be affected the most.

Spot any good comments? Let us know! Mail christine@thejournal.ie with any suggestions for Comments of the Week