We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
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.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Hi journal could you please print more articles like this so I can show them to my girlfriend and convince her that me buying a Ps4 will not turn me into a sedentary immobile cabbage as she seems to believe it would? Thanka
Forget about your ps4 and build a pc for gaming :)
is that not a good bit more expensive/hassle? Though it has the Trojan horse advantage that I could pretend Im dropping a grand on it for its amazing word processing capabilities only to “discover” it can be used for games too once its in the door!
If you love gaming you’ll know the difference between console and PC gaming and money won’t come into it :)
My gaming pc only cost 200 more than my xbox one/ps4. The extra you spend you will save after buying 10 full price AAA games from steam.
Pc can be built for €600 and upgraded when needed. Lasts longer and games are cheaper.
Gaming PC pffft. How long are you waiting to play Gta 5 now?
I’d love to build a gaming PC someday.
T
Great piece. I’d even argue that games in themselves are a great stress reliever, without even trying to establish the link as directly as you have with the PIP. I find them great for blowing off some steam.
So sick of the ridiculous articles about games and ‘de-sensitising’ that do the rounds every so often, nice to read one without the scare-mongering!
I think it depends a lot on the type of game and the player’s personality. When I play CS:GO I don’t usually find it relaxing. Fun, yes, but stressful! Skyrim I find relaxing and I play a game called Cue Club. I think that open world games can be the best for relaxing and de-stressing (although a lot can be said for unloading a machine gun into a swarm of monsters attacking you!) as you can usually do whatever you like. I remember playing GTA3 years ago and just driving around. That’s it. Having fun driving around the city and trying out different vehicles.
I’d agree that gaming is a nice way to put the feet up and relax… right up to the point where I discovered Dark Souls and my blood pressure has never been the same since!
I hear that game is brutally tough, lol.
I’ve started playing Risk of Rain. It’s fun but you will die a lot. Like most roguelikes.
Games are for children. Any grown man playing computer games deserves to be neutered at the balls.
Newsflash many games aren’t actually made for children, the biggest selling games are always over 18′s and the average age of a typical “gamer” is actually 31 http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/29/gaming-advocacy-group-the-average-gamer-is-31-and-most-play-on-a-console/
Closer inspection of your profile pic and the name ‘anto’ has ruled your opinion null and void.
Games are for children? Really? Have you heard of F.E.A.R., Amnesia the dark descent, GTA, Silent Hill or Dead Space? Don’t think the developers had children as their target market there.
Or you could do some exercise or something useful. Gaming is an absolute waste of time. It’s bad enough children playing but anyone still interested in games as an adult needs to grow up.
I don’t have a TV. I agree most programming these days is even more moronic than wasting your life prancing around virtual reality.
I bet you sit on the sofa like a lemon watching rubbish tv shows on your laptop while your brain melts away. At least with gaming you’re using it.
Touch a nerve did I lads? Keep wasting you’re lives away, no skin off my back.
Your.
I’m certainly not wasting my life away. I find gaming relaxes me, makes me forget the troubles at hand. Get this, I read books too.
Endas too busy wrecking the country to have the time to play a game and chill out. If he’s as good at gaming as he is at running the country yeah you get my drift. )
Tell me how the typical evening goes in your house Enda, and please be honest. What do you do to chill out and take the edge off the day?
Enda stop being a right old one and get with the times grandad
It’s hard enough to get the kids off these games as it is,don’t want them to see this,or it will be impossible
Exactly, like the world needs more man-babies.
It’s better than watching tv.
I know the kids today with their “pop music” and “vidja games” in your day I bet you had a stick and were happy with that ehh?
Luddites
All the wives and girlfriends will be on giving out about their men folk anytime now. I have a ps4 it’s an excellent piece of equipment for helping to just loose yourself for a while in a game. I will admit you don’t notice the time go though. My wife thinks I’m a man child I keep telling her there are millions of men out there that are gamers. Don’t smoke or gamble I do exercise and have a hobby and spend quality time with the family so what harm is it to loose yourself in a game every and then while she’s down watching X factor or I’m a celebrity or strictly come dancing or East Enders or emerdale etc etc,so you see girls lighten up on the lads and their gaming.
Leslie: Teach your children time management skills, and if they are too young to self regulate then its your job to do it with them. Certain types of Games are excellent for children’s’ development – but like all things in life there must be moderation.
Gaming isn’t just for kids or adult men – women are a huge part of the gaming market. I’m an avid gamer and playing online is a wonderful sort of socialising. When my kids are in bed, I get to hang out with my international gaming mates from the comfort of home, and I’ve travelled to spend time with some in countries and cities I might not have visited otherwise, and some have come and visited Ireland. No soaps or “reality” tv shite in our home – gamers for life!
You should try and get her into gaming. I found the Lego games as a great introduction to gaming for the girlfriend.
Tv is terrible totally agree with you
Well don’t play fifa if ur lookin to reduce stress levels u will jus end up most of the time with a bill for a smashed controller and they ain’t cheap nowadays 50/60 a pop for the new gen consoles…
What’s a PIP?
” As part of my final year project, I was given the chance to develop a prototype app for the PIP, a biosensor which helps manage stress. “
What fantastic projects are you working on in your spare time Enda?
It be adult’s buying them as there over 18. Buying them for there children in most cases. It’s not real life.
So the link I previously posted staying the average gamer is 31 you disagree with? You have any facts to back that up?
Enda? I’m nothing like Enda. I’m working class and I work for cash in hand and collect the dole
Anto is clearly a troll account, that comment coupled with profile pic proves it. Don’t feed the troll
Ian the majority buying those games. Even the 18 and over 1s are children. Foghorn, anto is short for Tony thanks. And Hugh, your girlfriend is write
Okay show me statistics proving that the majority buying them are children?
Ian, I don’t understand what you’re getting at here? So because a lot of grown men like playing childish games that makes it somehow ok?
Games specifically designed for adults that are over 18 are childish?
I was a manager in Gamestop few years ago, the average age of game purchaser is late 30s, you’re talking hole anto
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say