Eager to see the end of 2008? Be forewarned: the world’s official timekeeper has decided to prolong the year – by one full second, to be precise.

The extra second was mandated by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service in Paris.

Satellites that orbit at speeds calculated in kilometres per second, the Internet, global positioning systems – all depend on knowing exactly what time it is.

IERS head Daniel Gambis announced the time-stretching measure in July in a letter addressed to ‘authorities responsible for the measurement and distribution of time’.

‘The last adjustment dates to 2005, and the next could happen in 2012 or 2013,’ Mr Gambis said.

Leap days occur once every four years because it takes 365 days plus six hours for our planet to complete an orbit around the Sun.

But leap seconds are added strictly on a case-by-case basis, depending on need.

This year’s will be the 24th bonus second since the practice was initiated in 1972.

The sleight-of-clock is necessary to reconcile two different time scales.

One is established by the atomic time pieces, which are accurate to billionth of a second per day.

The other is based on Earth’s imperfect rotation on its own axis.

The two get out of sync because the planet’s spin is affected by a host of slightly fluctuating variables, including solar and lunar gravity, the movement of the tides, solar wind, space dust and magnetic storms.

Even global warming has gotten into the act because melting ice caps have an impact too.

Transport costs are to increase, with New Year price rises for mainline rail, DART, Luas, Dublin Bus and some road tolls.

In other news:

Some new charges were introduced today, while others are coming into effect from Monday.

The National Consumer Agency has said the latest price hikes for public transport are excessive.

It says that for the economy to remain competitive, public transport companies should be reducing the price of tickets, not increasing them.

The increases will apply across a wide range of services from mainline rail and DART to the Luas. It will also cost more to drive through parts of Dublin and across the country.

A journey from Dublin to Galway will cost you €4 more by train and DART services in Dublin will increase by about 15-25 cent.

Iarnród Éireann argues that it applied for the increases because of the economic environment everyone is facing, and says it badly needs the revenue.

Driving through toll plazas will cost 10c more for car drivers – with the exception of the M50 and the Port Tunnel. There is a variety of new charges for haulage trucks.

Various Luas tickets on offer will cost around 5% more, with no increase in the cost of tickets for children.

And Dublin Bus fares will increase by 10c for an adult and 5c for a child.