EVERY SATURDAY MORNING we take a look at all the best comments left on the site by our readers over the past week.

This week there was a lot of talk about the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, the axing of Brian O’Driscoll from the Lions captaincy, the abandoned property auction in the Shelbourne, Edward Snowden, the Anglo tapes, Nelson Mandela, and protests outside the Dáil.

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. Poll: Would you welcome a united Ireland? (516 comments)

2. These are the 24 TDs who voted against the abortion bill (398 comments)

3. O’Driscoll and Heaslip axed as Alun Wyn Jones gets Lions captaincy for Third Test (223 comments)

4. Video: Protesters stop Labour float during Dublin Pride parade (222 comments)

5. Praveen Halappanavar receiving ‘abusive letters from campaigners’ (215 comments)

Some of the best comments left on the site this week

(Video: Mark Moloney/YouTube)

A lot of people were incredulous – to put it politely – about the clip on RTE News in which a former property developer got confused about Constance Markievicz’s gender, death and – well, a lot of stuff (see above). Daisy Chainsaw hit the nail on the head:

If you’re going to invoke historical figures, it helps if you know who they were. Maud Gonne must be spinning in his grave! ;-)

The Dáil spent a few hours yesterday debating whether or not Ireland should get rid of daylight saving time. Nathan Anderson was succinct about it:

Daylight Savings Time. It’s like believing that if you cut the end off a stick, and glue it onto the other end, you then have a bigger stick :D

Brian O’Driscoll getting dropped from the Lions squad this week inspired a lot of angry, cranky and flabbergasted comments. John Murphy offered this analysis:

To clarify, if the lions lose, it’s Gatlands fault for dropping BOD. If the lions win, it was a fluke.

Dublin City Council’s hastily-abandoned plan to ban charity shops on Grafton Street was widely criticised. Muriel Gowing pointed out that charity shops can stick around longer than other stores:

Last month there was a Maxmara jacket on sale in the Oxfam above. It cost €15. The jacket might well have been bought new in Richard Alan when it was next door to Oxfam. Richard Alan went and was replaced by a golfing shop which is gone now. Oxfam has survived and the window displays are always lovely. Charity shops make sense and you’re doing some good when you make a purchase. It would be crazy to ban charity shops from the Grafton street area.

In a column on Thursday by a woman who was physically abused by her partner when she was pregnant, T Keating left this moving comment about the abuse that he witnessed in his own home:

I grew up in this house… or at least one just like it. I saw my father beat my mother at home(and once in public) for 7 years.She left him a week before my First Holy Communion with us 3 kids, our 3 kittens and 3 duvets. The night before my communion our parish priest came up to our new house to tell me that my mother wouldnt be offered communion at Mass the next day and that he was seriously considering refusing me my First Holy Communion unless she went home. That was 1995.

Domestic violence ruins lives for generations – a single punch can have a 30 year ripple effect. But its those that stand by, aware of what is going on in their communities that sicken me. I cried in many a teacher, sports coach and friends mothers arms and nothing was ever done. We all need to start looking around us, not just listening to idle gossip that so-and-so has a temper or that your wan turned up at the school gates with a black eye. Its our collective responsibility that these animals dont get away with it. So, please, just don’t turn a blind eye, because its always 100 times worse at home that the worst you see on the street.

Being carried to bed, the stories, the epic pyjamas… this article had readers sharing stories about the best things about childhood bedtimes. Rebecca Ní Smurchú‘s comment rang a bell with a lot of people, judging by how many thumbs up it got:

Staying really really quiet after Glenroe ends up hoping that people will forget you’re still up.

Finally, bad pun of the week comes from Master Mc Man on the article about the dog who sniffed out €20k hidden in luggage at Dublin Airport:

He must have had a good LEAD !!

Sorry.

The 5 most popular comments on the site this week

(Photo AP/PA)

1. The most popular comment this week was Brian D Brady‘s take on former Anglo boss David Drumm’s apology (kind of) for some of what was said on the Anglo tapes, which received 1,166 thumbs up:

I’m not sorry I destroyed your country, I’m just apologizing about swearing while doing it ;)

2. Diarmaid Twomey got 1112 thumbs up for his comment about Pierce Brosnan’s daughter Charlotte, who died of ovarian cancer at the age of 41:

So sad! Bloody cancer!

3. John Murphy had the third most popular comment of the week with 992 thumbs up for this:

Why anyone would want to go public after winning the lotto is beyond me.

4. In fourth place this week was Ken Collins with his comment about the 200-year-old fish (see photo above)- which had lived through the US Civil War, the Great Famine and both World Wars – before it was caught by an angler in Alaska. Ken got 983 thumbs up:

They had to kill it didn’t they. No way could you let a 200 year old animal live any longer.

5. Dublin may be getting its first hangover delivery service. Derek Hickey got 948 thumbs up just for wishing the people behind the company well:

Fair play to him, best of luck with it!
Hope it’s a success!

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