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 there was a lot of talk about the return of the Dáil, Elaine O’Hara, mortgages, beauty pageants, a shooting in Washington, direct provision and, as always, the weather.

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: How would you vote if a general election was held today? (390 comments)

2. Protesters sit down and block cars on O’Connell Bridge and the Quays (378 comments)

3. Poll: Should Irish people protest more? (309 comments)

4. Column: Mortgages are contracts – they should be treated as such (280 comments)

5. “There is nothing decided on welfare cap” – Joan Burton (244 comments)

Some of the best comments left on the site this week

(Nico Paix/Flickr/Creative Commons)

Given the news that the next James Bond film could be shot in Ireland, commenters had their own suggestions for Irish-ified Bond film titles. Some of our favourites from Brian Foley, Stephen Wallis and Lee Casey:

You Only Live Up The Road

Goldfinglas

Tuamraker

A man in Russia was shot this week during a heated argument over Kant’s philosophy. Hey, these things can get heated. Dermot Fitzgerald had a Kantian question:

But did he have a diect experience of being shot, or was it his senses conveying that feeling?

Given the weekend that’s in it, these two perspectives on this weekend’s All-Ireland football final from tomeenoldstock and Conor Flood proved popular:

You know what Mayo fans are unreal. Despite all the heart break ye still support your team year after year when others might have lost heart, and despite losing last year there’s even hype in mayo again this year. Fair play to ye. I hope to God ye do it this year but I fear that Dublin will be too strong. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.

Always been bewildered by anti dub rant . Supported them for over 40 years never expect to win anything , ever . Never come across any real fan who does . just enjoy putting on my jersey , going to games , having a pint and a chat and enjoying the colour we all bring to the day . We’re there on merit so are mayo . Set aside the poison and let the game commence

Readers shared tips on go from a couch potato to being able to run 5k in the space of 8 weeks on this article. Barry had some useful advice as someone who had done exactly that:

If you’ve ever through about running I recommend you give it a go and a couch to 5km training plan is a good way to start, don’t worry about wearing shorts out in public or sweating or what you’ll look like or any of that nonsense.

I was never into running but back in Feb 2010 I decided sod this I’m sick of walking I want to loose so weight so I’m going to try running, first time I ran more then 60sec I thought I’d die. I never thought I’d be able to run the 5km nonsense and I certainly didn’t think I’d be able for 10km.

In September I ran my first half marathon, in the summer of 2011 i ran my first marathon and in the summer of 2011 I ran my first 50km race.

Since then I’ve gone on to run the connemara ultra which is 39.3miles and will be doing my 10th race of a marathon distance or further this weekend.

Ok, you don’t have to go out and run loads of marathons but just aim for a 5km for starters and it’ll change your life.

Oh and unless your running for well over 60-90min nonstop don’t drink any of those energy drinks, you don’t need them. Just drink water and eat properly and you’ll be fine.

A report this week found the number of 3-year-olds in Ireland who are obese is worryingly high. Commenters debated the difficulties of feeding children on a budget, and Dave Murray‘s comment resonated with a lot of people:

I have 3 kids under 5 and I fed them all roasted/stuffed peppers with tomato/ham/onion/cheese filler yesterday for dinner. Chicken stir fry the previous day.
Both were healthy and tasty meals – really easy and quick to cook.
I happened to be in Dunnes earlier in the week and I managed to get most of the stuff in the “reduced to clear” section so each meal came to under €4 [although I was a bit lucky to get the 3 pack of peppers marked down to 45c].
They are happy to drink water or milk at dinner time because they don’t know any different – it’s working so far for us anyway.
3 happy meals would have cost me €12 and they’d still be hungry after it [plus the fact that, if we were in McDonalds, they'd be asking me "why are all the other kids drinking Fruit Shoots and eating McFlurrys?"].
Fruit shoots contain only 10% fruit. People tend to overlook the fact that each Fruit Shoot bottle contains 23g or 5 teaspoons of sugar.

This moving column about how Alzheimer’s had taken over the author’s dad’s life inspired a lot of comments from readers telling their own stories. Geraldine Mulpeter explained what she has been through with her mam:

My mum was diagnosed with alzheimers two years ago. She was 67. Everyday I watch it take a piece of her. She has had psychotic outbursts and been violent towards my dad and myself. What I have learned is how individual it’s affects are. She refuses outside help and the opportunity to attend day care. In the morning I awake to hear her cry. This has become common place and I’m scared that she’s scared. Yet she is still my mammy. If yours are alive and well cherish the time.

One of the entries on the list of Irish men that every woman has gone out rang a bell for Eileen McKenna. This is very sweet:

Ah the Secondary School boyfriend! Went out with him for 4 years. Broke up. Married someone else. 20 years later broke up, met secondary school boyfriend again, fell in love all over again. Unbelievably happy. The end xxx

The 5 most popular comments this week

(AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

1.First up, Saoirse Geraghty had the most popular comment this week with 1,980 thumbs up for this post on an article about Michaella McCollum Connolly:

A fund for a drug mule… Classy stuff, would be better to donate it to a children’s hospital for sick children… I’m shocked they even had the shame to start a fund and for 20,000… Disgraceful!!

2. Next up, Norman Hunter got 1,472 thumbs up for this observation on the story about a court in Sweden said public masturbation is ok as long as you’re not masturbating AT anyone. Ew.

Meanwhile number of Swedes willing to shake hands plummet.

3. One of the saddest stories this week was the investigation into the death of Elaine O’Hara. Lauren Halligan got 1,405 thumbs up for this:

RIP :( Glad her family have some closure though.

4. Regular commenter Gaius Gracchus got 1,377 thumbs up for this comment, the second on the list to come from an article about Michaella McCollum Connolly:

I can already see her getting asked banal questions by Tubridy on The Late Late in 2020 ‘You must have been very scared?’ Zzzz

5. The fifth most popular comment this week was on the same subject, and came from David O’Reilly, who got 1,159 thumbs up for this:

Why would people pledge money to some young naive girl who got caught trying to smuggle drugs through an airport?

Hypothetically, i bet if this was a young man from an African country, there’d be no news, no pledges, just another drug mule that got caught. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time!