If we could turn debt into land, we’d own Wales

THE huge scale of the monies involved in the Irish bank bailout are hard to comprehend, the numbers being so very large as to be well outside normal human experience.

But it occurs to me that the scale of the thing can perhaps be made more apparent to the mind of the ordinary citizen by converting the monies into acres of land.

Last year, the average cost of agricultural land in Ireland was €9,678 per acre. Now, there are 640 acres in a square mile. Co Dublin – let’s use it as a unit of measure – is 356 square miles (921 sq km) in area.