EVERY SATURDAY MORNING here at TheJournal.ie, we like to take a look at all the best comments left on the site by you lot over the past week.

This week has seen some big discussions in the comments section, partly around Martin McGuinness and the Queen shaking hands, and the floods which struck parts of the country during the week. There was also a lot about Seán Quinn being found guilty of contempt (but not going to jail over it), as well as the European Championships, debate over Youth Defence’s abortion ads, and the big – ahem – news that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are to divorce.

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

Like a lot of people, Sean was unhappy about the news yesterday that someone had damaged a Monet painting in Dublin’s National Gallery:

The thing that bothers me apart from the obvious is that they’ll likely have to change their security protocols now.

So it’ll be metal detectors. Or you’ll be looking at the Caravaggio through glass. This is horrible news.

Meanwhile Darren Byrne went for a classic pun:

More Monet more problems!

A young Mayo teacher who was named Teacher of the Year this week has made a YouTube video where she criticises the bureaucratic mess that she has to deal with as a teacher, as well as the constant teacher-bashing she and her colleagues put up with. She got a huge number of comments supporting what she said – including this from William O Brien:

She speaks very eloquently about an issue that receives almost no air time because: 1) Teachers are afraid to speak openly about it for fear of losing their job and 2) The public are generally apathetic to such issues because the perception of the teaching profession in this country is generally negative (i.e. overpaid and under-worked). The best education systems in the world are those that value their teachers and hold them in the same regard as other higher professions. The gulf between the rhetoric of our top-class education system and the reality of education cutbacks and the demeaning of the teaching profession is growing wider. This teacher’s brave speech should open up a national discourse about how we value our teachers and by association, our young people!

A spacecraft launched by NASA in 1977 looks like it’s about to become the first spaceship to leave the solar system and go into outer space. Yowza. First in with a Star Trek joke was Martin Healy:

In 250 years it will meet the Starship Enterprise and turn into a monster.

… quickly followed by Goatboy:

If the Klingons get their hands on this God help us all!!!

Sean Norris was one of a number of people who spotted a good deed being done as people tried to deal with the sudden floods in parts of the country this week:

I have just witnessed all that is good about our public services. An adult with DS travels on the same bus as me every morning to attend COPE. The town that the centre is in is flooded so the bus driver communicated this to him and persuaded him that he should not travel. Despite the persons determination to travel the bus driver persuaded him and even brought him back to his residence.

Michelle McMahon saw the handshake between Martin McGuinness and Queen Elizabeth II as a historic monent:

Onwards and upwards from here on in. A momentous occasion which heralds a new era in the building of peace in Northern Ireland.

Others were less impressed – including Andrew Eager:

Doesn’t matter to me, but I’m sure to some it’s a great thing, and to some others a great offence.

Mark Malone was unimpressed with an economic report which predicted that Ireland’s trade will grow by 125 per cent – but not until 2026.

You’re kidding me. Can you point to ANY other piece of long range 14 year forecasts in the history of economics that has ever been within a whisker of their projections. The parameters of things such as geo politics, increasingly devalued currency of BRIC countries and other “emerging” countries, popular resistances over time to imposition of unjustifiable debts all make this report by HBSC about as meaningful as monkeys throwing darts at a board with different numbers on it.

Joey Dempsey had this suggestion for fixing the mortgage arrears crisis:

Those of us with the PTSB were greatful for their recent interest rate reduction. What they had been charging, over 5% and for a long time was an outrage, it was little wonder so many of their customers were in trouble. On a relatively low mortgage, the difference to me was almost 80 a month, God knows what those on massive mortgages will save. I can not for the life of me understand this interest rate lark, why, when most people borrowed on say 3.5 to 4.5 % can banks raise interest on money already borrowed and probably at much lower rates we the consumer are charged. One solution to the mortage arrears crisis is a setting of a fixed interest rate and perhaps payments that are fair and equitable for both consumers and banks. At least mortgage holders have a level playing field and definitive outgoing each month. I may be niaeve but its only a suggestion.

This unfortunate photo of junior minister Alan Kelly holding a giant iPhone inspired a lot of quips in the comments section. This one from Pierce2020 got over 150 thumbs up:

Is that a really big phone or a really small minister?

News of a random attack on Dublin’s Tara Street in which a woman was seriously assaulted led to a discussion about whether crime is getting worse or not. Stephen Pluck got over 400 thumbs up for this comment:

Getting worse out there… Gardai and court should come down hard on these random attacks. Try deter people doing it for the ‘buzz’ or ‘I was locked so it doesn’t count your honour’

This photo of Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker at the EU summit during the week inspired a caption competition in the comments. Our favourites were this from Chris Murphy:

OMG! I forgot to record Geordie Shore!

… and this one from Nigel Hawthorne:

Oh crap! Italy won? She’s going to kill someone tonight isn’t she!

Got any other suggestions? Leave them in the comments section…

(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wiijngaert)

Spot any comments which you think should make it in to comments of the week for next week? Mail christine@thejournal.ie with any suggestions