Irene Scopelliti <[log in to unmask]> asked about shopping in Dublin and
I'm afraid I can be of little help.

Selling CM in Ireland has always been a big problem for the record
companies and on my last business visit there I saw nothing to indicate
that that situation might be about to change.

A small anecdote: To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the first
performance in Dublin of Messiah a team went out from Philips Classics
to record and film the event (Marriner conducted, 1991).

A year or two later I enquired as to the sales of the video of this "event"
in Ireland.  The answer was 13 copies (VHS - the LD never happened there at
all!!) ...  so don't spend too much time searching for good CM record
shops as I suspect there are still none worth speaking of.

Paradoxically the Dublin Opera company is booming, and their main orchestra
is making excellent progress, so something is going right.

John G. Deacon    http://www.ctv.es/USERS/j.deacon