EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
16,650 – The number of miles a house telephone travelled from Borris in Carlow to Brisbane in Australia when it was mistakenly added to a care package being sent to to a family member who had emigrated.
3 – The length in kilometres of this year’s Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin city centre.
4,500 - The number of barriers used throughout the Patrick’s Day Festival. That equates to more than 10 kilometres worth of barriers.
1,272 – The number of years it has been since there was a pope who didn’t come from Europe. Pope Gregory III, who was from Syria, ended his decade-long reign in 741 and was the last non-European before Pope Francis was elected this week.
3 – The percentage by which electricity usage in Ireland dropped on Wednesday evening as people stopped what they were doing to watch the announcement of the new pope.
36 – The total number of years that Fine Gael politician Gay Mitchell has served as a TD and an MEP. The 61-year-old Dublin MEP said this week that he will not contest next year’s European elections.
10 – Ireland sold the first 10-year government bonds this week since before it entered the bailout programme. The sale was a seen a significant boost of confidence from the markets in Ireland exiting the programme later this year.
756 – The number of people who complained about problems accessing State services through Irish last year. The Language Commissioner said it was the largest number of complaints ever received by the office.
50 – The percentage of mortgage loans in arrears that the government has ordered the banks to deal with by the end of this year.
143,851 – The number of residential mortgages in Ireland which were in arrears at the end of December.
521,000 – The number of passengers from Northern Ireland who travelled through Dublin Airport last year – equivalent to almost 30 per cent of the total population of the North.
101.73 – The number of carats in a diamond being auctioned by Christie’s later this year. The pear-shaped rock is expected to sell for more than $20 million (€15 million).
1 – The number of popes called Francis.
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