EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers you a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
200 – The number of Greek MPs, out of 300, who voted in favour of an austerity package last Sunday night (well, actually Monday morning) in order to secure a new €130 billion bailout from the EU and IMF. Despite their votes – and the huge public demonstrations that followed the austerity moves – the bailout hasn’t been sorted out just yet.
96 – The number of jobs, per day, that the government believes its new Action Plan for Jobs will create on average over the next eight years. The plans include 270 legal measures which hope to create 100,000 jobs by 2016 and 200,000 by 2020.
€8.51 – Independent candidate Mary Davis spent €414,041 on her presidential election campaign – the second-highest of any candidate, outstripped only by Gay Mitchell. She got 48,657 first presence votes – equating to just over €8.51 per vote, the highest of any candidate. Gay Mitchell spent €4.65 per vote, while winner Michael D Higgins spent just 56c, the least of any candidate.
€9.358.16 – The amount spent by Gay Mitchell buying cable ties for his posters in the presidential election.
€2,871.46 - The amount paid by Martin McGuinness’s campaign to Morgan Fuels Ireland Ltd – that’s the company of Hugh Morgan, the businessman who accused Sean Gallagher of collecting Fianna Fáil donations from him just two days before polling. McGuinness explained that Morgan Fuels offer a debit card which can be used at a number of other stations, and that the expenses simply related to the cost of running his campaign bus.
10 – The number of Dublin Bus vehicles being fitted with WiFi for a trial next week. The buses will operate on the 16 route.
4,200 – At the end of February, the health services will have 4,200 staff fewer than the end of September – a figure James Reilly admits will mean an “unavoidable reduction” in the provision of services.
€41,152 – The amount that independent TDs get each year in an unvouched ‘leaders’ allowance – Senators get €23,383. This week the government voted against plans which would force those politicians to submit receipts for how they spend the cash, with the proposal (put forward by the independent Senators who actually get the payment) defeated by 31 votes to 20.
16,920 – The number of tip-offs received by the Department of Social Welfare about potential welfare fraud last year. The Special Investigation Unit at the Department reported ‘control savings’ of €60 million as a result of investigations last year.
€1,453 – The average domestic mortgage in Ireland is now €1,453 (at least) in arrears, according to figures released by the Central Bank. There were 70,911 households who were more than 90 days behind, with those households being behind by an average of €15,753 each.
103,916 – The number of homes which had signed up to pay the Household Charge as of Thursday afternoon. If the government’s estimate that there are 1.6 million homes in the country, that means just under 6.5 per cent of people have signed up in the first half of the three-month window to pay the €100 fee.
83 – The number of Fine Gael and Labour TDs who voted to kick Labour’s Michael McNamara out of the Dáil on Thursday. This was despite the fact that after a row with the Ceann Comhairle, Seán Barrett, McNamara had already left the room.
€2 billion – One reported estimate of how much the Italian Catholic Church could be facing in annual tax bills, if Mario Monti proceeds with his plans to close a tax loophole whereby Church-owned commercial properties (like hotels) do not have to pay property tax as long as there’s a chapel inside.
113,111 – The average number of copies sold by the Irish News of the World each week in the first half of 2011. The paper looks like it’s about to replaced by a new Sun on Sunday, if Rupert Murdoch’s email to staff on Friday is anything to go by.
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