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EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
6 – The size in metres of a balloon of a baby Donald Trump that was given permission to fly over London during Trump’s visit.
99 – The number of people granted gender recognition certs in Ireland last year.
7,500 – The amount of water in litres needed to fill a swimming pool from Lidl – all of which sold out this week.
19 – The number of people killed in a heatwave in Canada.
€220 million: The amount a motorway from Cork to Ringaskiddy will cost.
56 – The number of homes that will be delivered in O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin – where work has finally begun.
€11.90 – The amount per hour of the new living wage.
96 - The number of cases E coli in ten days of heatwave-level weather.
7 – The number of “super-frequent spines” that will make up Dublin’s overhauled bus network.
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Yay! Let’s figure out how to spend millions of Euro for the pope to visit while continuing to not properly fund social services.
@Blarneykite: absolutely. If you have evidence go straight to the police.
@Tom Burke: are you deranged, the evidence is there and is very well documented. Which part of the statement is not backed y evidence? Francis is the head of the Catholic Church and no organisation in history has had more individuals convicted of paedophillia.
Looking forward to the Popes visit. Saw him in St. Peter’s Rome. It’s a wonderful experience.
@aoife✨: perhaps he’ll start handing out compensation for all the abuse victims the catholic church have refused to give compensation to.
Or perhaps he’ll finally hand over the Vatican abuse records which the Vatican has refused to hand over to countless governments including Ireland and the UN.
Nah? Thought not.
The cover up and protecting of mother church continues….
@aoife✨: maybe you’ll get a selfie!
Meanwhile catholic organisations still refuse to pay their (greatly reduced) financial contributions to the redress scheme for the rape and sexual abuse of thousands of children throughout Ireland.
@Paul Fahey: do you want them to take back the 3,000 + schools they provide to the state?
Let’s have everybody pay what they owe, how about that?
@Tom Burke: Tom, you mean the schools that the Irish government pays to run, maintain, pays the teachers that work in them and in many cases paid to build or upgrade the buildings? .
I know out of all 3 schools near me the government paid to build a brand new school for one and paid out massive money on upgrades and extensions for the others. That’s just in a small town.
You’re post is amusing, you make it seem like the catholic church would willingly give up control of our education system. We all know it’s the only thing keeping parents bothering with communion/confirmation these days and if parents had to do the communion prep at home the vast majority wouldn’t do it.
@Paul Fahey: Paul, most Catholics going to mass this morning are decent people living out traditions that have been here despite historical attempts like the Penal laws to get rid of them. One of the strange facts is that the Penal laws applied to the Ulster Presbyterians who wouldn’t recognize the Queen (Anglican Church) as the head of their Church but time soften things or fudges made regardless.
I have bigger issues with the Church than you have Paul as these abuse things have spread into every area of society so you can’t really apply selective hatred for the Church alone. As a Christian, my issue is that the Church created a divide between inspiration and science leading to voodoo merchants dominating this era .
@Tom Burke: yes, let them take them back, but only the ones they finance and are not funded by the tax payers of this constitutional republic.
So glad you are back chief defender of paedophile clergy.
@Gerald Kelleher: “science leading to voodoo merchants”, wow, bizarre even by you consistently bizarre standards.
@Paul Fahey: How much are the LGBTQRSTUV community contributing….afterall it was members of their community who infiltrated the church who perpetrated most of the heinous crimes. You hardly think it was straight priests fiddling with boys???
@Tom Burke: it would be a huge service to the country if the schools were handed back. It’s not as if the Catholic Church financially supports the education system in any way. They just hold up progress and actively discriminate.
@Paul Fahey: you say it yourself. How do you describe yourself ? Antagonist.
Let’s put one issue straight.
The state do pay the teachers.
They do pay to maintain the schools (poorly).
They do all of those things.
Why shouldn’t they?
They use them.
The church provide the buildings which is the really expensive part.
What’s the expensive part of owning a house? Is it the initial purchase or keeping it painted.
If I loaned you my car, free of charge, would you expect me to give you petrol money also?
Why do we need this visit.This will just show Ireland as a puppet of Rome which is the belief of many people in the North.
Also the church here should pay for all expenses.
@tom McCormack: can the church take all the profits too so? Tourism, merchandising etc. This visit will be a huge boost for the economy.
@Sean @114: iso Sean, you think a heavily indebted, but democratic country, should pay the full expenses of a very wealthy, financially corrupt, misogynistic dictatorship?
Hopefully, he will throw his toys out of the pram when the people of Ireland, again demonstrate, their desire for the removal of catholic dogma in our society, with the removal of the 8th.
@tom McCormack: the idiot puppet Kenny invited him so we pay. Again.
@Paul Fahey: dogma?
Chill out man. It’s Sunday. Nobody came around to your house today dragging you to mass. You need to get the chip off your shoulder.
Let’s hope Dublin City Council has nothing to do with organising this event as they couldn’t organise the Turning a on of the Christmas lights. Crowd Control.
@John Scott: They are in a high level meeting to decide if they will fly the papal flag.
Iam actually Ok with this, iam neither one or other, he’s ok leader as they go, iam kinda liken the idea of the north visit of the Island of Ireland with no border, example to a very diverse world, take a bow all, still work to B done I know, however EQUALITY, thank U ❤
@Clive Armstrong Nolan: Catholicism and equality? Seriously?
@Paul Fahey: Ah here comes Paul Fahey, another hater and extreme cynic.
Paul always comes across as a real hater and bigot towards anybody with any faith or in any way a Christian. Let go of the hate Paul. Share the love for your fellow humans.
@Paul Fahey: lose the hatred Paul.
@Clive Armstrong Nolan: the words equality and Catholic don’t go together.
Remind me what the catholic church’s position is on women priests?
Or perhaps remind me of the official position of the catholic church back in the days of tampons becoming available, condoms sales become normal, decriminalisation of being gay, marriage equality, single mothers getting state support
They were against everyone of these changes.
@Tom Burke: ah boys, thank you for the compliments, it warms my heart at this time of year that you unchristians can be so thoughtful at this pagan time of year. I am sure you all have trees in your house in solidarity with us “haters”. It is admirable you love everyone, especially the paedophile rings, but you are quite correct, I hate them.
@Clive Armstrong Nolan: that was very hard to read!!!
@Paul Fahey: nope not catholicism, just allowing him to have his say, not my thinking in no way, but seeing it as some who believe and trying to respect it..
@Deborah Behan: yes i guess i would, hard to read, to be honest i terribly dyslexic and i tend not post comments, what i was trying to say is iam seeing his visit as a positive, as Ireland is gearing towards society that embraces all faiths, not mine, and ive meet with no faith as of yet that is perfect.
@Clive Armstrong Nolan: it…
@Paul Fahey: Paul is off again.
It’s hard to believe, as a predominantly catholic country a pope has not visited since 1979. Two hours on a plane away and nothing in 38 years.
I have a take a few days off and hide in the garage.
“Right lads, so where are we with plans?”
“We found the biggest field you’ve ever seen boss”.
Keep the lout out!
What a waste of taxpayers money on ‘funtime frankie and the vaticans’. stay at home and instruct your footsoldiers to sell all the land you own for homes for the special PEOPLE you claim to care about.
It was all show business back in 1979, Cleary, Casey and Darcy pumping up the fervour of the crowds, the then Pope full of ground kissing and professing his love for the young people of Ireland. It was all pomp and spectacle. It was empty but it was enough to excite the masses at masses. Already, the abuse scandals were starting to emerge but it was still possible to dampen then down.
The nation was possessed. In the aftermath, it was an unpopular thing to admit that you had not attended any of the Pope worshipping events and to criticize the Church was seen as highly provocative. It later emerged that the then Pope was in in league with the Legionaries of Christ, an abusive organization.
I hold no truck with the RCC but there is a sad irony that a corrupt, abusive and compensation defaulting Church may be led by a non super star who may not care much for the false pomp and crass showiness of these visits.
Is it free in?
@Sarah Ennis: Yeah but it’s Bring your own Bible
Young Patrick is gone very auld looking
@Bob McTanned: Patrick “boxer” Donovan!
have your say