EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers you a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
€13.1 billion – The amount Ireland will need to borrow on the open market next year, according to the IMF. It reckons we’ll have a total shortfall of about €23.2 billion next year, but there’s only €10.1 billion left in the bailout fund for then.
€35,947.08 – The average industrial wage in Ireland in the first quarter of 2012, according to estimates produced by the CSO yesterday. The figures showed the annual hourly wage at €22.16, up from precisely €22.00 in the final quarter of 2011.
76 years, 9 months – That’s how long Mick Wallace TD might need to repay his company’s €2.13 million VAT settlement with the Revenue Commissioners, assuming (a) he’s only donating half of his gross salary, rather than the net; (b) he remains a TD until he’s 133 years old and (c) he isn’t declared bankrupt in the meantime.
3 – The number of full minutes for which the Republic of Ireland held World and European champions Spain scoreless in their Euro 2012 match on Thursday night.
6.874 per cent – The annual interest rate Spain would be asked to pay for a 10-year loan, as of Friday evening. Spain is rapidly seeing its costs of borrowing rise beyond a level it can afford – pushing it into bailout territory.
31 – The number of times that the word ‘Londonderry’ appeared on the records of either the Dáil or Seanad – almost always appearing alongside the ‘Derry’ version – before Alan Shatter used it in a discussion this week. The longer version is more habitually used by unionists to underline the city’s connection to London.
100 – The estimated number of surviving Irish veterans of World War II. Shatter this week announced a retrospective pardon for any members of the Irish Defence Forces who deserted to fight for the Allied side in the war against Hitler.
€920 million – The approximate amount saved by the implementation of the Croke Park pay deal in its second year of existence, according to a report from its official implementation body. That’s largely as a result of…
11,530 – …the number of people who left the public payroll between April 2011 and March 2012, the second year of the deal. The programme is geared around the principle that staff will not face compulsory redundancies if they agree to extra workplace flexibility.
3,883 – The number of Twitter followers that famous-and-also-infamous Croatian-boob-licker Eamon Keegan had on Twitter as of 8pm last night. Not bad for a man who had 66 on Monday morning before pictures of him made it online – and attracted the attention of the Croatian lady’s employers…
56 minutes – The time for which France’s 2-0 win over Ukraine in Euro 2012 was delayed, when the game was temporarily suspended amid an incredible electrical storm above the stadium in Donetsk. It’s the first time in European Championship history that a game has been temporarily abandoned.
8,035 – Texan billionaire Allen Stanford is a huge cricket fan – something which may come in handy during his 110-year jail term for perpetrating one of the biggest Ponzi schemes for all time. His term is enough time to watch 8,035 full five-day test matches.
€199.99 - The maximum charge that an Irish producer can charge for crystal items if they want Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to be one of their customers. The EU introduced new clampdowns on the export of luxury goods yesterday, also meaning a price ceiling of €10 for cigars and €500 for luxury wristwatches.
