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

26,531 - The number of cannabis plants seized by the gardaí last year, according to figures stated in the garda annual report for 2011. Gardaí uncovered 572 ‘grow houses’ over the course of the year and made 67 “significant” drug seizures including the seizure of €2.4m worth of cannabis resin at a premises on Dublin’s Malahide Road.

1.8 – Thee percentage yield on €500 million of three-month Treasury Bonds auctioned by the NTMA this week. It was the NTMA’s first debt auction since Ireland’s bailout in November 2010.

71,680 – The number of days taken in sick leave by employees at the Department of Social Protection in 2011. The leave cost the department over €9 million.

99.999 - The percentage certainty cited by CERN scientists that they have discovered the elusive ‘God particle’ or Higgs boson.

€25 - The price of two packs of beer as listed on a Centra ‘Children’s Allowance Day Deals’ promotional leaflet in a limited number of stores. The leaflet has since been withdrawn.

7 – The average percentage drop in property prices around Ireland in 2011, except in Dublin where the average drop was under 1 per cent last year, according to new housing data. The national average asking price for a property is now €172,000 – down 53 per cent from the peak in 2007.

310 – Height in metres of Europe’s new tallest building, The Shard in London city.

600,000 – The number of Ulster Bank customers potentially affected by ongoing problems at the bank, as estimated by its CEO Jim Brown during an Oireachtas committee hearing this week.The Financial Services Ombudsman said that customers who have suffered from the problems will be able to claim for out-of-pocket losses and stress incurred as a result of the banking debacle.

€7,125 - The annual diary secretary allowance at the Department of An Taoiseach. The figure was among a list of civil servant allowance details released by the government this week.

5 – The number of state employment bodies being merged under proposals announced by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Employment Richard Bruton.

$3 billion – The fine levied against major pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline by US authorities over charges it marketed drugs for unauthorised uses while withholding safety data.

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