€1.40
Cost of a standard postage stamp from February of this year, as An Post raised the price for the fourth time in less than three years. The new price remained “well below” the average European tariff for a comparable next-day letter service, it said – suggesting another increase is now very likely in the post.
€41
Price in euro of a ticket to Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasglow which, in March, promised to send ticket holders on “a journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn”. Alas, the event went viral for being crap and children cried – just as Willy Wonka would have wanted.
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€100
Ticket prices for this summer’s GAA All-Ireland finals hit the three-digit mark – a rise of €10 for the stands – after a “ticketing review”. The GAA said it was the first increase in final ticket prices since 2019 and only the second in 14 years, though GAA president Jarlath Burns later admitted the price was “a lot”.
€347
Average sum spent by Oasis fans on tickets for next year’s two concerts in Croke Park, according to August data from AIB. The sale of the reunion tour sparked controversy in both Ireland and Britain after dynamic pricing sent ticket costs surging as 1990s nostalgists queued online to buy them.
€366,000
Cost of constructing a bike shelter at Leinster House, it emerged in September to a political furore. Despite this expensive architecture – which saw Office of Public Works representatives summoned before the Oireachtas finance committee – TDs complained that the shape of the canopy meant their bikes could still get wet.
€2.4 million
Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson was paid roughly this amount by publisher HarperCollins as an advance for his memoir Unsold – sorry, Unleashed. Only 42,528 copies of the 784-page doorstopper were shifted in its first week on sale in October – far fewer than the first-week totals racked up by predecessors Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.
€10.1 million
Amount that Dublin Airport was fined by the Irish Aviation Authority in March after surveys in 2023 found poor cleanliness in toilets and terminals as well as long security queuing times. Airport operator DAA said it had cleaned up its act before the peak summer season. Phew!
€73 million
Sum in euro that the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority fined Citigroup in May after a “fat finger” trading error two years earlier that briefly sent European stock markets into convulsions. The trader had intended to sell shares worth $58 million but typed in the wrong figures, valuing them at $444 billion.
€1.84 billion
Fine levied on Apple by the European Union in March for “abusing its dominant position” in the distribution of music streaming apps to iPhone and iPad users by limiting how rivals interact with consumers. The antitrust penalty, which Apple is appealing, was sweet music to Spotify, which said it sent a “powerful message”.
€14 billion
About this much is flowing into exchequer coffers after the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a final ruling in September in the Apple State aid case. The revenues will be used to address “known challenges” in housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure, it was announced on budget day. New bike shelter?
€99 billion
The amount collected in tax in the first 11 months of the year, according to exchequer returns data from the Department of Finance. The record sum was swollen by a €35 billion corporation tax bonanza for the year to the end of November. But sshhh! Don’t tell Donald.
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