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Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

RTE, health insurance, and the Queen: The week in numbers

Plus: What percentage of people aged 50 and older in Ireland are obese?

EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.

42 million – The amount in euro that Ireland spent on its six-month presidency of the EU last year. The figure was almost €70 million less than the last time Ireland held the presidency in 2004.

1.6 million – The number of people from the US and Canada who visited Ireland in 2013, which has turned out to be the best year for tourism since 2008.

1 million – The amount of money in pounds left in the reserve fund for Queen Elizabeth II, down from £35 million in 2001.

30,000 – The amount in damages awarded to sexual abuse survivor Louise O’Keeffe after the European Court of Human Rights found the Irish State was liable for the abuse she went through.

20,000 – The number of chickens culled in Hong Kong on Tuesday after the deadly bird flu virus was found in poultry.

8,000 – The number of limited edition €10 coins in honour of tenor John McCormack which have been issued by the Central Bank.

4,626 – The number of people waiting more than 12 months for an outpatient appointment in Irish hospitals – down from 103,000 less than one year ago.

1,278 – The number of people rescued by lifeboats in Irish waters in the past year (plus ten animals too).

577 – The number of people on board a luxury cruise ship in the Caribbean who fell ill with vomiting and diarrhoea, forcing the ship to cut short its 10-day trip.

44 – The percentage of 8,000 people aged 50 and older who were found to be obese in a TCD study.

3 – The average percentage increase in VHI health insurance premiums from the start of March. Some plans will go up by as much as 6 per cent.

? – RTE refused to confirm how much damages it paid to the Iona Institute as a result of comments made on the Saturday Night Show.

Want more? Check out our previous ‘In numbers’ pieces >

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12 Comments
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    Mute Peter Richardson
    Favourite Peter Richardson
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    Feb 1st 2014, 8:35 PM

    RTE was bound to confidentiality on the settlement. It’s hand are tied by the Iona Institute, Waters and others.

    It was funded by our licence fees. It is now the Iona Institute’s war chest or fighting fund.

    25
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    Mute Desmond Lyons
    Favourite Desmond Lyons
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    Feb 1st 2014, 7:45 PM

    “loose weight” or “Lose weight” ?

    22
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    Mute Küçük Arkadaş
    Favourite Küçük Arkadaş
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    Feb 1st 2014, 8:56 PM

    Lose loose weight.

    21
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    Mute duckduckduck
    Favourite duckduckduck
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    Feb 1st 2014, 7:58 PM

    Eat – sleep – wave – repeat.

    13
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    Mute Limerick Soviet
    Favourite Limerick Soviet
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    Feb 1st 2014, 7:36 PM

    ‘What percentage of people aged 50 and older in Ireland are obese? ‘

    As many as there are stupid tabloid, soap opera, neocon loving people.

    buy my new book, Loose weight by being intelligent.’

    in all good bookshops soon……………..except government bookshops………………

    11
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    Mute John Ward
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    Feb 1st 2014, 7:53 PM

    @Limerick Soviet:
    You may have a loose weight.

    Have you checked yourself out recently?!

    7
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    Mute Jeremy Usbourne
    Favourite Jeremy Usbourne
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    Feb 1st 2014, 7:55 PM

    Communists are slim.

    Its easy to keep the pounds off queuing for bread & beetroot rations.

    Viva soviets!

    27
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    Mute Limerick Soviet
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    Feb 1st 2014, 8:07 PM

    @john

    i ate a mars bar and i got loose and lose mixed up, how stupid of me, and to make things worse it’s on page 56 of my book.

    6
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    Mute Patricia Ann McCarthy Moore
    Favourite Patricia Ann McCarthy Moore
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    Feb 1st 2014, 9:20 PM

    The 1 million left in reserve for the queen of a foreign country can be used to set up (Israeli Kibbutz style) communal businesses and farms for the young people who have not yet immigrated out of their own country. The country is chock a bloc with empty hotels, shops, factories, farms, etc. We wish to give our young people hope for the future. So much talent must not be allowed to go to waste. Every available man and woman must put their shoulder to the wheel now and push this country forward away from the corruption and iniquity of the past. Let this be an Island fit for all of our people to live in, both young and old.

    2
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    Mute Jeremy Usbourne
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    Feb 1st 2014, 9:57 PM

    Love it!

    Nuttier than a squirrel fight at a peanut factory.

    26
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    Mute frank coleman
    Favourite frank coleman
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    Feb 2nd 2014, 9:52 AM

    Hail our glorious queen

    1
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    Mute Patricia Ann McCarthy Moore
    Favourite Patricia Ann McCarthy Moore
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    Feb 2nd 2014, 7:36 PM

    Thank you Frank. I like being hailed now and again.

    2
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