The CSO has released numbers this morning showing that the amount of time lost to industrial disputes has jumped from 4,179 days in 2008 to 329,706 days last year. The jump amounts to a 7,889% increase in days lost to industrial action over 2008.

The one-day national strike on November 24th last  was undoubtedly the biggest single contributer to the jump. Almost 250,000 public sector employees including teachers, nurses, prison officers and even Oireachtas staff took part.

The amount of disputes almost doubled year-on-year from 2008′s number of 12 to 23.

Robberies have risen by over 20%  in the past year, so says the Central Statistics Office in its latest report on Reported Crimes for the final quarter of 2009.

Robbery, extortion and hijacking jumped by 23%. Burglary was up 9%. In contrast, attempted murder and harassment fell by almost 16%. Drug offences also dropped by almost 20%.

The CSO released numbers this lunchtime showing seasonally-adjusted increase of 3,300 people on Live Register in December over November. The year-on-year increase in the Live Register is now just over 133,000 people.

The Live Register now stands at 426,700 (seasonally-adjusted).

Breaking down the numbers a little more, we see the following month-on-month moves:

• Increase of 6,761 male versus 3,329 female claimants
• There was 7,425 new claimants for Jobseekers Allowance. This is almost fives time more than new claimants for Jobseeker’s Benefit.