EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
€5560.32 – The amount, per year, that a TD currently contributes towards their pension on an annual basis.
€12047.36 – The amount, per year, that any newly-elected TD will have to contribute from now on, after Brendan Howlin more than doubled the amount that individuals contribute.
€185,344 – The amount that any TD over the age of 65, and who has completed 20 years of service in the Dáil, would receive in the 12 months following their retirement. Three-quarters of that is a lump sum, and €46,336 is an annual pension.
€36.66 billion – The amount Ireland took in in taxes in 2012. That’s up from just over €34 billion in 2011.
14.6 per cent – Ireland’s unemployment rate at the end of 2012, according to provisional CSO figures released on Friday.
0.000009714 per cent – The proportion of Dublin Zoo’s visitors last year who were Jennifer Lopez. She was one of 1,029,417 people to visit the capital’s zoo in 2012.
33.11 per cent – The percentage difference between two estimates of the average asking price for a house in Ireland today. Daft.ie reckons it’s €151,000, while MyHome.ie reckons it’s 33 per cent higher, at €201,000. Either way, both agreed that the property market in Dublin had stabilised.
€116 - The amount that the average Irish consumer spends shopping online every month, according to the Digital Hub’s end-of-year report. Some 2.6 million Irish people shop online now.
€15,426 – The average profit made by Copper Face Jacks every single night of the year from February 2011 to January 2012, according to recently-filed accounts. The company behind it, Breanagh Catering Ltd, turned a profit of €5.6 million.
1.4 per cent – The amount by which households increased their savings in the year ending November 2012, according to Central Bank figures. Lending to households fell by 3.6 per cent, meanwhile.
76 – The age of a man who trapped himself in an underground bin while trying to find a missing lottery ticket. Thankfully, the Amsterdam man was safely freed.
€43.7 million – The amount that Switzerland’s oldest bank was fined after admitting it had helped US citizens to evade taxes. Wegelin, which was founded in 1741, will shut down entirely once the fine has been paid.
161 – The number of people who died on Irish roads in 2012, a modern record. It’s 25 fewer than had been killed in 2011.
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