EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers you a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
72 per cent – The number of Irish people who told an opinion poll last week that they wanted to see a referendum on the new European financial treaty. 53 per cent of those who had made up their minds had said they would back it, while 47 per cent would vote No.
118,750 per cent – The return on a €32 investment made by a Dublin punter in an accumulator last week. His bet accurately picked the winners of four races last weekend, and took over €38,000 in winnings.
€4.7 billion – The amount, through recapitalisation, share investment and deposits that the State has put into Bank of Ireland. Despite that, the State hasn’t been able to convince them to give up the College Green premises, which Jimmy Deenihan wants to take back for a public plaza.
6.7 per cent – Germany’s new unemployment rate, which is its lowest in almost two decades. That’s less than half the 14.2 per cent we had in Ireland.
€23 million - The amount that Gardaí have spent rolling out a new biometric fingerprinting system… which still hasn’t been fully adopted yet. Despite the spend, one-third of fingerprints are still being taken using wet ink.
704 metres per second – The speed at which Sandia’s new four-inch bullet can travel. The self-guided bullet can self-correct – meaning it is (reportedly) perfectly accurate, even when fired a mile away from its target.
€53,714.95 - The expenses paid to Fine Gael TD Noel Harrington since last February’s general election. Harrington gets the highest expenses because he lives furthest from Leinster House.
€0 – The expenses claimed by Labour TD Eamon Maloney, who simply refuses to accept any. He had also turned down expenses while a member of South Dublin County Council for 12 years.
8 – Of the 15 members of the Cabinet, eight – including the Taoiseach and the ministers for finance and public expenditure – do not vouch for their expenses. Taking unvouched expenses means they receive less money than others, but it also means they’re not subject to an audit.
€7,347,661 - The total amount that our current parliamentarians collected last year. The 60 senators picked up €1,305,821 to add to the €6,041,841 taken by TDs.
€305 - The allowance paid to the parents of children having their communion or confession, which is being cut to €110 by the government in a bid to curb ‘lavish’ spending for the sacraments.
446,000 - The average number of people who listen to Morning Ireland each morning, making it Ireland’s most popular radio programme. That’s according to new listenership figures released this week.
21 – The number of TDs who spoke at Friday’s Dáil debate on a new bill dealing with household arrears. Billy Kelleher, who had complained that morning about the poor attendance at Friday debates, was not one of the speakers.
$200 million – The payment that Facebook’s first interior designer got for his work. Well, not quite: instead of taking cash payment, David Choe was paid in stock – and is now a multi-millionaire in waiting, as the site prepares to go public and be worth around $100bn.
422 pints – Irish people consumed an average of 12 litres of pure alcohol last year, according a new study – the equivalent of 422 pints of 5-per-cent cider.
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