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.

There was a lot of talk this week about the Rose of Tralee, naked Prince Harry, and the elderly lady who tried to restore a 19th century Spanish fresco. Slightly more seriously, there was also some good discussions about the credit card bills run up at the Department of the Taoiseach, the Quinn family, and issues around rape.

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

Lots of readers rowed in behind Prince Harry and his er, cavorting this week. Stephen Smith expressed solidarity with the naked prince:

I don’t know what the world’s coming to when you can’t trust some random hot girl you met in Las Vegas.

Also defending a target which got a lot of criticism this week, Stephen Kelly had this to say about the Rose of Tralee:

Lads it’s outdated, cheesy and undoubtedly cringe inducing at times, but it’s a harmless bit of fun and a festival that brings a much needed financial boost to a town hit so hard by the economic downturn. In a summer that seemed to rain endlessly the sun came out in the south west and people enjoyed the last few days of summer. If ya don’t like it throw on something on Sky, if ya do, then how bad!

It’s hard to choose a best comment from this thread about funny jokes from the Edinburgh festival which, predictably, became a competition between commenters to post their favourite jokes. Two of our favourites. From Brian Horton:

Two Belfast ducks flying north.
“Quack” says the first duck.
“I cant go any quacker” says the other.

… and Brian Gartland:

If I had a Euro for every time I got distracted, I wish I had a puppy.

A lot of readers left moving comments on the article about Tony Nicklinson, the English man with locked-in syndrome who died earlier this week. From Daisy Chainsaw:

I hope wherever he is, he’s dancing cartwheels. A brave man. RIP

Of all the comments left about Katie Taylor and her visit to Crumlin Children’s Hospital, this one from vectorsector got the most thumbs up (559 at last count):

That last pic with little Ella in isolation really pulls on the heart strings. Hope you get better little girl. And all my admiration to Katie for being such a selfless, kind person. Just when i thought we couldn’t be more proud.

New research showed that Ireland has one of the highest rejection rates for loans to small businesses in the entire eurozone. Dave Fingleton, a builder, explained his experience of people trying to get money from banks:

As a small builder, (not developer), i do once off houses, renovations, extensions. I still have plenty of interest from people who want to build, extend, renovate but they can’t access credit. most of them are pre-approved for a mortgage but are turned down eventually after making them jump through hoops of fire in paperwork. Most of the people i come across in this situation 2 income couples. What seems to be happening is they are able to show figures for pre approved lending to the media, but not finally approve the loans. Just barely surviving with odd client using inheritance / savings / sale of asset. Emigration with a broken heart beckons soon if the banks can’t be brought to heel, hard to see that happening though..

Is the points system set for a major overhaul? Readers argued this week about whether it’s fair to include personal statements and references in college applications or if the CAO points system is the fairest way. Damien Kelly gave his story:

I accessed Trinity through the Access Programme. I left school at 14 and reluctantly ran away to London to escape. Now back more mature TAP allowed me to continue my long-held dream of completing my education. I’m now going into my 3rd year and am having an amazing experience. If it wasn’t for alternate entry possibilities I’d be sitting at home on the dole or in a low-paid job with little prospect for the future.

One for the football fans: it was 17 years ago this week that Tony Yeboah scored this wondergoal for Leeds against Liverpool in 1995. Adam O’Sullivan had a memory of it – and an apology:

I think it’s safe to say after 17 years that it was me that broke the living room lamp celebrating this goal. Sorry dad.

The sons of the late Dermot Morgan this week launched a campaign to encourage people to look after their hearts, 14 years after their father died of a heart attack. From Joan Rudd Donnellan-Wijnen:

He was THE comedian of my generation.. So so missed!! I could watch Fr Ted everyday! (I do!) Very sad he died so young, had such a long career ahead of him. It’s great the 3 lads are promoting blood pressure awareness .. so many things can be avoided with simple check-ups ..

It’s official (well, kind of): Ireland is a third world country. From rodrigo detriano:

Great news! This surely means that Bono and Geldof can get involved in sorting out our debt!

Finally, a photographer in the Defence Forces got some amazing photographs of the Tall Ships on the Liffey in Dublin on Thursday. KathleenMcCann was a fan:

Have seen them in the day time, all lit up at night and now from the sky, thanks defense forces for another great angle, especially love the one coming in past the lighthouse and in front of the big chimneys, awesome.

(Photos: Irish Defence Forces/Flickr)