EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
6 – The number of children who have been taken abroad for an abortion while in the care of the State since 1992. Four of those cases involved court proceedings.
3 – The number of potential genetic parents that babies born in the UK in the coming years could have. Britain has signed off on an IVF treatment which allows certain defective material in a mother’s egg to be substituted with parts from an egg of another woman.
1 - The number of worries David Drumm said he had in 2005 when he was appointed as chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank. He told an interview at that time:
Look, the only think I have to worry about is becoming complacent; we have been successful for a long time and it is very important that we never take it for granted.
9 – The weight, in kilograms, shed by Tony Rochford in the first eleven days of his hunger strike in opposition to the property tax. He bought his home in October 2008 but has been without any meaningful income since then, as he was self-employed.
2.8 – The magnitude of the latest earthquake to hit the Irish Sea, when it struck late on Thursday night around 50km off Wicklow.
45 cent – The maximum amount that a European mobile phone user can be charged for downloading a megabyte of data while roaming overseas, as of Monday morning. The European Commission is lowering its current price ceiling of 70 cent per megabyte.
11.9 per cent – The proportion of Ireland’s commercial units which are currently empty, according to a joint survey between An Post and the Ordnance Survey. Limerick City has the highest vacancy rate, at 17.2 per cent.
72.5 per cent – The amount of an Irish internet user’s internet connection that they never actually get. EU data shows that the average Irish connection has an upload speed of only 72.5 per cent of the amount they pay for. Downloads are slightly better, but still only make 84.7 per cent.
€960 billion – The amount of EU spending that will be sanctioned over the next seven years, under the rules of a budget deal struck by the Irish EU presidency with MEPs and the European Commission. The first vote by MEPs on approving the Budget is due on Wednesday.
€500,000 - The amount the HSE was fined by Dublin Circuit Court after breaching two workplace health and safety laws. The conviction related the death of an ambulance worker, who sustained fatal injuries when falling from a door that opened on a moving ambulance.
€100,000 – The maximum possible payout to the Magdalene survivors under a scheme agreed by the government this week. The highest payouts – alongside medical facilities and a contributory state pension – will go to women who spent over 10 years in a laundry.
€93,968,807 – The amount won by the lucky sod who held Ireland’s winning Euromillions ticket holder, who has – quite rightly – opted to stay anonymous.
1,123 – The number of days at which Gavan Reilly has worked at TheJournal.ie, and loved every minute of it. He finished yesterday, and he thanks you all for reading.
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