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.

This week there was a lot of talk about Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s apology to the Magdalene women, Gardaí protesting over pay and conditions, Oscar Pistorius, and whether Ireland needs a new bank holiday to commemorate the Easter Rising. Then there was more discussion about abortion, bad driving and er, explicit sausage talk.

So here, in no particular order, are the standout comments from the week that was.

The top 5 articles which received the most comments this week

1. Column: Kenny is dragging Fine Gael into a kamikaze mission on abortion (306 comments)

2. Sinn Féin wants to make Easter Rising anniversary a bank holiday (245 comments)

3. Poll: Will you pay the Property Tax? (208 comments)

4. Almost 3,000 live cattle to be exported to Libya tomorrow (172 comments)

5. Kenny “deeply regrets and apologises unreservedly” to Magdalene women in emotional speech (164 comments)

Some of the best comments left on the site this week

This article about things today’s 18-year-olds have no memory of – including Father Ted, Kurt Cobain dying and Jack Charlton as Ireland manager – made a lot of people feel old. Sorry about that. Paula Kelly‘s mother had a different perspective:

My mam once said “Do you remember Italia 90? Ah you do, you were going mad in the womb”

When prosecutors in the UK insisted on getting a statement from PC Peach, they hadn’t realised that the officer was in fact a dog. They received this witness statement – which Maurice Wrenn described as:

Woof Justus

Image via @SamScott200

Inspired by this story from the US, we asked commenters if they’d ever performed a random act of kindness. Mickey Mouse‘s story was hard to beat:

Not really random but I once found over a grand cash in an envelope on the toilet floor in a golf club. It was the day before Christmas Eve and I went around each table until I eventually found the guy who verified it. He wasn’t even playing golf that day but having a pint with friends before he bought the family Christmas presents and he nearly got sick when he realised. I think most people would do the same.

Meanwhile Michael Russell has been doing it for a long time:

If I have time left on a parking ticket, i always try and give it to someone……. I’ve been doing it for years, then the other day- as I went to pay for a ticket, someone gave me their one with two hours on it…..it finally came full circle!

There was a huge number of comments in response to the Taoiseach's apology to women held in Magdalene laundries. Mister got 100 thumbs up for this one:

A very fine apology. A reflection the way Irish society turned on its own people once we achieved independence and gave us plenty of reason to be uncomfortable with the behaviour, intolerance and indifference of the generation of our parents and grandparents. As an Irish person I am ashamed of that part of my country’s past and the attitudes of those generations. I am proud of the bravery of those women. The Taoiseach’s emotion is unsurprising – he has sat down and listened to some of these horror stories first-hand in the past few weeks. It would take a hard and soulless person not to be affected by this.

Fungi the Dolphin is looking his age. Fergus pointed out that it was understandable:

My skin would be that wrinkly as well if I was in the bath a long time lol

The number of people calling the national LGBT Helpline has grown so much that more volunteers are needed to deal with the demand. Paul Walsh commented on some of the difficulties still facing young people:

I have a young gay relative who suffered from anxiety for years.  Doctor's would advise him to 'get out for a walk'.  They didn't think to ask him about his sexuality and realise that he was hiding this huge secret.  I asked him had he talked to any helplines.  He said that the evening hours of the LGBT helpline meant that he couldn't talk to tem as it was tea time at his house and he couldn't talk then.  I'm sure he'd have appreciated being able to talk to someone in the early afternoon when he'd have lots of excuses to be out of the house.  He'd talked to the Samaritans but they would just talk about suicidal tendancies and couldn't advise him on gay issues.

People think that it's the best time ever to be gay and that there's a lot of acceptance out there.  However it's hard for gay adolescents listening to the debates on gay marraige constantly.  People constantly giving their opinion about why 'gays shouldn't marry', and certainly 'gays shouldn't rare children'.  We try to tell our children to feel free to come out, not to allow themselves be bullyied, that they are as good as everyone else, yet there is this background noise telling them that really they're not as good as everyone else.

5 of the comments which received the most thumbs up

The single most popular comment this week was this from James Halford which got 1069 thumbs up on the article about 13 things today's Leaving Cert students have no memory of:

I…feel…old…

Michael Kennedy had the second most popular comment on the site this week with more than 1020 thumbs up for this post about the grisly story about how a dog was hacked to death by its owner in Wexford:

It is hard to be shocked anymore in this country but stories like this remind us how incredibly cruel an animal mankind is. Hopefully this animal is put behind bars.

Paddy O'Donnell got 764 thumbs up when he made this comeback to someone who questioned why more people hadn't turned up to a major rally of frontline public sector staff on Monday:

Sorry aoife! I’m at work providing a public service.

Bruce Wardrop got 732 thumbs up for this comment underneath an article with the headline "Lily Allen's boobs, awkward exes: The 6 best things at the Brit Awards":

“Lily Allen’s Boobs”

Disappointingly misleading ;)

Hippocrateeth got 694 thumbs up for this observation on an article about how a transatlantic flight had to make an emergency landing at Dublin Airport:

I was on an Intercity express bus that stopped the far side of mullingar for 20 mins once. I think there was trouble with the fan belt.

Spot any good comments? Let us know: mail christine@thejournal.ie with any suggestions for comments of the week.