WELL, ANOTHER YEAR has been and gone.
From the papal visit to referendums, to record temperatures and more, it has certainly been a wild year.
Here are some of the numerical nuggets that made 2018 a year to remember.
2: The number of minutes to midnight that the world’s Doomsday Clock is at since January, the closest it’s been since 1953.
96: The number of years the music store Waltons had been operating in Dublin before closing its iconic George’s Street store in February.
€500,000: The amount of money Dublin Zoo lost through an invoice fraud scam.
€60,000: The cost of erecting the much-maligned statue of the late Sir Terry Wogan in Limerick.
23,000: The number of homes and businesses that were without water in aftermath of Storm Emma.
€250,000: The salary that was advertised back in March by the Policing Authority when it was searching for a new Garda Commissioner.
$29.5 billion: The valuation of Swedish company Spotify after it went public in April for the first time.
16/34: The new name of Cork Airport’s runway, which has been renamed to adapt to the change of Earth’s magnetic poles.
6: The number of years ago that the Heart of St Laurence O’Toole was stolen from Christ Church Cathedral. It was returned this April.
€2 million: The amount that was ploughed into the Public Service Card/driving licence project – before the plug was pulled because it wasn’t legal.
13: The number of minutes that John Waters lasted on Eamon Dunphy’s podcast.
90: The number of Blue Flags awarded to beaches and marinas around the country.
42.1: The percentage of people in Northern Ireland who want a united Ireland according to an online survey conducted by Lucid Talks for the BBC.
32 degrees: The temperature recorded at Shannon Airport in June, making it the hottest June day on record since 1976 and the hottest day of the year.
3,500: The number of new homes built in the first three months of 2018.
102,000: The average viewership for Love Island on 3e during the first week of the show this summer.
6 years: The jail term handed to former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm for his role in a multi-billion euro bank fraud scheme in 2008.
13: The number of boys plus their football coach who were rescued from a flooded Thai cave after being trapped for 18 days.
500,000: The number of tickets booked out for the papal mass in the Phoenix Park for the World Meeting of Families.
600: The number of Ryanair flights cancelled in Europe on 25 and 26 July due to cabin crew strikes in Spain, Portugal and Belgium.
20km: The width of the lake of water discovered beneath the surface of ice on Mars.
7 million: The additional number of pints of beer sold in Ireland this summer compared to last.
€100,000: The refund that students on the BA Journalism course are due from NUIG after complaints about the course were upheld by the Student Complaints Board.
222,000: The number of followers that Bloggers Unveiled had accumulated before it shut down after things took a “nasty turn”.
7: The number of Leaving Cert students that got eight H1s in their results this year.
€996,823: The money paid to An Garda Síochána up until August this year for the policing of private events.
130,000: The number of people who attended the Phoenix Park for a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis as part of his visit to Ireland this summer.
2,975: The actual number of people in Puerto Rico who died during Hurricane Maria – the initial death toll was 64.
16: The number of counties that the hosepipe ban was extended to until the end of September.
28: The number of cases of identity fraud solved by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection using facial imaging software.
€11.9 billion: The amount of money that the government has pledged to invest in education and training over the next decade.
€94,535: The amount of money that TDs now earn following a €1,000 pay boost under the Public Service Stability Agreement.
94: The percentage of rental properties beyond the reach of people dependent on state housing benefits.
3: The number of Cork restaurants that received a Michelin star for the first time.
406: The number of pages in the Disclosures Tribunal report published in October, that found there was a “campaign of calumny” against Maurice McCabe.
€1.5 billion: The amount of money that is to go into a rainy day fund, according to Budget 2019.
70: The age that teachers will be allowed to work beyond if they are due to retire in their final academic year.
190: The number of cannabis stores that opened across Canada after it became the second and largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace.
€70,000: The cost of the World War I memorial that was vandalised in Co Clare in October.
64.85: The percentage that the referendum to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution passed by.
900: The number of calls that Dublin Fire Brigade received on Halloween
€1.5 million: The total amount of money raised from the Liam Miller tribute match.
70: The kilograms of plastic debris cleared from the Dublin coast following the reconstruction of the Dún Laoghaire baths.
23: The percentage of non-Irish nationals living below the income poverty line, according to a new report published by the ESRI.
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