EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
€9,163,721.67 - The total amount received in allowances by the members of the Oireachtas. You can view a full breakdown of the amount claimed by TDs here, and by Senators here.
2 – The number of members of the Oireachtas who didn’t claim any allowances at all. Senator John Crown and Labour TD Eamonn Maloney both opted against claiming any allowances.
95 – The number of Garda stations that closed for the last time on Thursday, as part of government cost-cutting programmes. The Garda budget was cut by 3.2 per cent for 2013, and the government reckons closing the small rural stations frees up more police for on-the-beat activity.
€100,000 – The amount awarded to a woman who gave birth to a baby boy – despite having undergone a sterilisation operation. Karen Hurley had her fallopian tubes blocked, but the operation wasn’t a success – and meant she gave birth to a son who died at six months.
€234,804 – The price, per patient per year, of the Kalydeco drug which can be used to stop the progression of cystic fibrosis in some patients. The price has been lowered, to an unspecified amount, after a deal was struck between the HSE and the makers of the drug.
15 – Ireland’s rank in the latest index of global press freedom. The Reporters Without Borders index put Finland and Norway at the top of its index, with Eritrea and North Korea at the bottom. Ireland stood at the top of the index before blasphemy laws were introduced in 2009.
39 – The number of CF patients who could have been treated with Kalydeco every year – even at its higher price – if every member of the Oireachtas had foregone their travel and office allowances.
128 - The number of prisoners who aren’t actually in prison, and who are ‘unlawfully at large’, according to figures released this week.
7,467 - The number of people who went to jail in 2012 for not paying fines. That’s a 72 per cent increase on the figures from 2009.
€0 - The amount won on the National Lottery by Tipperary hurler Lar Corbett this week. He was said to have won a Lotto jackpot worth €10,613,747 – but Corbett denied the story before it turned out that the jackpot was actually claimed by a family syndicate. (We made this suggestion list for him in case he was lying.)
16,000 – The number of listeners dropped by Ryan Tubridy’s 2fm show over the course of 2012. JNLR figures published on Thursday put his audience at 160,000 – down from the 176,000 it had a year ago. He’s still 2fm’s most popular broadcaster by some distance, though.
150 - The number of human skulls inexplicably found in a remote area in Central Mexico during the week. Nobody’s quite sure how they ended up there.
190 - The number of HMV staff in Britain who were laid off by administrators from Deloitte. Staff from the company HQ weren’t best pleased – and borrowed the official @HMVtweets Twitter account to have a go.
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