EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
1,100 – The approximate number of allowances paid to various staff across the public sector. A review of those – which had intended to cut spending in those by €75 million this year – resulted in the cut of … 1. That’ll save about €3.5 million a year – less than five per cent of the target.
€85 – The amount that fans in Donegal have been asked to pay for All-Ireland tickets. That’s €5 more than they’re meant to – prompting the GAA to warn counties that they can’t add surcharges to tickets. Donegal says the €5 was a voluntary entry into a fundraising raffle.
32 – The age by which, statistically, more women are married than single. That’s according to the latest chunk of Census data out this week. That data also revealed that Galway City is the area of Ireland with the most single men and the most single women. So if you’re looking for love… (Incidentally, it’s Roscommon which has the highest proportion of married people.)
99 – The number of international caps earned by Damien Duff. That was the case for a few hours, anyway, after it emerged that one of Duffer’s last games – a warm-up for Euro 2012 – wasn’t recognised by FIFA. FIFA said, however, that awarding caps was up to each individual country – so Duff’s century is restored.
0 – The growth in the Irish economy in the second quarter for 2012. There was good news too, though: GNP, the measure of the ‘domestic’ economy, grew by a boom-era 4.3 per cent.
35 per cent – The volume of traffic to Oireachtas debate-tracking website KildareStreet.com which actually comes from Government and Oireachtas internet users. The popular independent website was made redundant by a change in Oireachtas IT systems earlier this week.
529 – The number of words in junior health minister Róisín Shortall’s contribution to this week’s Dáil vote on James Reilly. Shortall’s speech was notable for the fact that she didn’t once mention James Reilly by name or title, nor profess her confidence in him (though she did vote in his favour).
1,787,900 – The number of people in employment in the State in the second quarter of the year. Though unemployment hasn’t gone up, the numbers employed have fallen by 1.8 per cent.
8 out of 34 – The number of Ireland’s city and county councils which had indicated this week that they would link the payment of grants to third-level students with their household’s payment of the €100 Household Charge. Phil Hogan had offered his blessing for their moves – until Enda Kenny affirmed that it was illegal for councils to withhold payment altogether.
34 stone – The weight of Ronald Post, who is on Death Row in Ohio for killing a hotel clerk over three decades ago. He’s asked that his execution be delayed, because his unusually large body mass would lead to a particularly “torturous and lingering death”.
1,400 – The number of women, girls and couples who went to the Irish Family Planning Association in 2011 for post-abortion counselling and advice. That’s up by over 85 per cent on the previous year.
€4 billion – The amount of money put into Irish Life & Permanent by the taxpayer. This week the group chief executive said he was “optimistic” that the money could be repaid by the group in full.
€18.1 billion – The price, in today’s money, of a €40 billion loan in 40 years’ time. Ireland is reportedly seeking to issue a 40-year bond for that value to replace the promissory notes of Anglo Irish Bank, on which Ireland still owes €41.4 billion (which, in today’s money, is €35.7 billion. Those calculations are based on an inflation rate of 2 per cent – but don’t include the interest on a 40-year bond, which is a total unknown.
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