EVERY SATURDAY MORNING here on TheJournal.ie, we like to take a look back at all the comments left on the site during the week and pick out the ones that most grabbed our attention.

It’s our way of highlighting the strongest, funniest, and most interesting things that you lot have said over the past few days.

This week, a lot of the chatter has been around the issue of Cardinal Brady and whether he should resign; there was also Al-Qaeda’s plan to convert Ireland to Islam, the Best Used-Car Sales Pitch Of The Day, Jedi Knights in Ireland, the end of the Vita Cortex sit-in and much, much more.

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

Facebook this week urged users to post their organ donor status on their page in a bid to increase the number of people willing to donate organs. Jonathon Forbes shared his own experience:

My father passed away last year at the age of 54, he donated all his organs, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and in the end saved 6 people and prevented their families going through the same heart ache ours did when we lost him.It should be mandatory for all to be organ donors unless you “opt-out” !

Thursday saw the news that an Al-Qaeda spokesperson had plans to encourage Ireland to convert to Islam. Hmmm. Conor Conneally pointed out some practical problems with the plan:

Good luck trying to convert the Irish to a religion where you aren’t allowed to drink or eat rashers and sausages

Friday’s poll asked whether readers thought late night television ads for chatlines should be banned. Too Trueleft was adamant:

Of course they should be banned. If that half naked bird rolling around on the bed is that desperate to talk to me , like the ad says she is, why doesn’t SHE ring ME??

A lot of commenters expressed anger over the new allegations about how Cardinal Seán Brady dealt with child sex abuse in the 1970s. In this (slightly abridged) comment, Joan Ryan wrote about the problem with the ‘only following orders’ defence:

I have just listened to Colm O Gorman on newstalk

he made the point that in the 1970s a 14 year old boy, in an era when child abuse was not spoken about openly, as it is today, had the moral courage to report his abuse , and to warn that others were in similar danger, because he knew it was the right thing to do.

Whether he was in the capacity of a notary, or priest, or witness, Sean Brady felt no need to do anything but take notes. He did nothing to protect the children who he had been warned were in danger.

Without formal guidelines a 14 year old boy knew what to do.

The ” I was only following ( church ) orders ” defence has been used previously in history, and was unacceptable then, as it is today.

And on the same subject, Stephen Maher made this point about the background of many of many priests:

These priests in years gone by were subjected to regimes in seminaries and religious institutions that had one goal only: to instil loyalty and obedience to the church at all costs.
Some of these men went along with that trend more than others. To swear a 14 year old child to secrecy having questioned him in as explicit a manner as this boy was shows that Brady had taken this idea of loyalty/obedience to almost cultish extremes.
That he seems to live in a different moral universe to the rest of us is because he actually does.
His morality ,and that of those like him, is dictated not by common decency but dictated by a hierarchical undemocratic secretive institution.
A pox on it, and a pox on him.

Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys died yesterday at just 47 from cancer. Many readers shared their favourite memories of the seminal Brooklyn band; Gavin Feeney had this one:

Paul’s Boutique is to this day my favourite album of all time. Did my first and only stage dive at their gig in The Tivoli when they played here in 94. Rushed the security at EP with my two brothers and wife to make into a packed to capacity tent to catch them play their last show here. They soundtracked the best part of my teens right through to early twenties. Probably the only band I can hand on heart say I was ever “into”!

Lots of readers left messages of support for the Vita Cortex workers when it emerged on Thursday that the long-running protest is to end after both sides agreed a resolution. It’s hard to choose just one comment so we went for this one by Ferg Breen, which received the most recommendations:

I’m glad their ordeal is over. I hope they got a good deal to make it worth their while. Fair play to them.

Ashton Kutcher’s appearance as an Indian man in an ad for snack food in America has caused some controversy on the other side of the Atlantic. The company apologised for offence caused by the ad amid complaints about racism – but commenters weren’t convinced that the ad was actually racist. Siobhan Schnittger made this point:

Personally, I’m not offended by it. But if the article says that a number of complainants of Indian origin found it so, then you’d have to say that it was offensive to that group. It’s easy enough for me as a white Irish person to say I don’t see it as offensive but I’m not the one who matters here. If a group felt that they were targeted unfairly, even by clumsy accident then it’s simply good manners to apologise and remove the ad. Simples.

An Australian billion has announced he’s going to build a replica of the Titanic. Hmm. Good luck with that one. Michael Arkins was one of many readers who were unconvinced:

The new ship is a tribute to the people who worked on the original Titanic, according to Palmer.” – Made in China :/ Hmmmm

A lot of readers were unimpressed with the news that McDonald’s is going to be a sponsor for the London Olympics. Over on TheScore.ie, a lot of readers agreed with Kim Bishop:

Contrary to what Jessie J says, it really is all about the money, money, money.

More than 20 dogs were rescued from squalid conditions in a house in Laois this week, with the ISPCA warning about people ‘hoarding’ too many animals and not being able to look after them. Prot0type looked at how it could happen:

I don’t think it’s fair to say the person has mental health issues. I think some people maybe start with one and progress to two and three and think they’re doing a grand job. They don’t see the impact caring for two or three animals is having upon their life.

Then they maybe get asked if they want another and thinking, “Ah it’s only one more – not that much difference really. Better than the poor thing going to some knacker and being starved!”

I think it’s easy for somebody to feel as though they’re helping the animals as an animal lover. Thing is it doesn’t stop. They take more and more. The quality of the animals living conditions deteriorates as the owner struggles to cope. Thing is, the owner might be blinded to the sight of dogs suffering due to the thought of what could await them if they went to the wrong home.

Of course there are those that will collect for the sake of it and then not give a crap when one gets injured or even dies. Some won’t get vet treatment and will happily leave a corpse where it passed and simply not care.

This video of Alan Shatter having a laughing fit in the Seanad over the amount of acronyms in the speech he was reading out is unexpectedly hilarious (especially from around the 2.00 mark). From William O’Shea:

Lest we forget we’re all human. Excellent.

Spot any comments which you think should make it in to next week’s Comments of the Week? Mail christine@thejournal.ie

Read previous Comments of the Week here >