The shopping centres around the country, North and South, chosen for the accompanying listing, have been selected as typifying the bigger centres in many urban areas. Most of the centres have decided already on their opening hours for pre-Christmas shopping and this information has had to be drastically compressed, given the sheer volume of it.

It is as accurate as is possible at the time of writing, but we have also given contact phone numbers for anyone who wishes to confirm the details with any individual centre.

It's been impossible to include every shopping centre in Ireland - there are just too many of them, so we've been forced to make a selection of the ones which might be deemed among the biggest, most significant, convenient and most popular. So the demands of space mean that, unfortunately, ones like the Swan shopping centre in Rathmines, Dublin, aren't included.

Some of the centres are laying on very special attractions for their customers. The Powerscourt Centre in Dublin, set in an 18th century townhouse, is a perfect backdrop for Christmas shopping. Not only will shoppers there be able to enjoy live music, including jazz, classical and heavenly choirs, but on December 7th., this centre is also staging a special customers' night, with lots of music and other goodies, according to centre manager Mary Larkin. A total of 3,000 invitations are being sent out to customers of the centre and a night to remember is promised, including Christmas gift shopping.

Other shopping centres have concentrated on their decorations. The St Stephen's Green shopping centre in the heart of Dublin, recently put up its very special Santa Claus. As Michael Stokes, centre manager, explains, this Santa, his sleigh and reindeers form a display that's 60 ft long. The whole display is suspended from the ceiling; if you look up from a lower floor level, you can't see the suspension mechanism, just what looks like Santa racing across the night sky. As Mr Stokes says, quite simply it's very spectacular. The decorations here are also quite exceptional, too, reflecting Christmas and the Millennium.

Nearly all shopping centres have good parking facilities. The most commodious is the Blanchardstown Centre, which has space for 6,000 cars. Some of the shopping centres' parking is free, but other centres do charge for the privilege of parking and shopping there, so it's as well to have plenty of small change ready.

Many shopping centres have supermarkets that do home deliveries, so this is another feature worth checking out. Our guide to facilities indicates which ones have this service on offer.

Most of the shopping centres do have a good mix of shops, Irish and cross-channel owned. Some, like the Jervis Centre, have predominantly cross-channel shops, including Debenhams, so much so that when the Jervis Centre was first opened, shoppers immediately dubbed it "Little England".

ATMs are another common feature of most shopping centres, so that you can refresh your cash supplies very quickly. Some shopping centres close to the border are also majoring on the discounts they can provide for their customers coming from Northern Ireland.

Tom Gray, manager of the Letterkenny shopping centre in Co Donegal, says that they are doing a lot of advertising in Northern Ireland to highlight the differential with sterling. "It means that shoppers from Northern Ireland can get about 20 to 25 per cent discount on their purchases here," he explains. This shopping centre has a Bank of Ireland bureau de change, so that shoppers from the North can be sure of getting the best going rate.

The shopping centres around the country really major on their facilities. Nearly all of them are very wheelchair friendly. Liffey Valley, which includes an enormous Marks & Spencer, is a perfect example of a new centre that's very well designed for disabled shoppers. Apart from its Food Court, the whole centre is on the one ground floor level. Shopmobility vehicles are also provided, which make it very easy for disabled shoppers to move around.

Most, but not all, shopping centres are good on facilities for children and infants, like baby changing. Some have creches, where you can safely leave your child or children while shopping. The creche in the Blackrock shopping centre, Co Dublin, is a particularly good example.

Some shopping centres have good restaurant and snack facilities, like the Blanchardstown Centre, again with the biggest selection, with over 20 places to eat. Here, you can dip into everything from a light snack or sandwich to a full scale meal. The Stephen's Green centre has 10 restaurants and two pubs. The Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Rathfarnham, Dublin, has half a dozen restaurants and it must be one of the few such centres in the country with an ethnic restaurant - you can eat Indian here.

The Letterkenny shopping centre in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, has another claim to fame. Centre manager Tom Gray reckons that it's the only such centre in the north-west with its own pub, the Galleon, which also includes a restaurant.

A few of the centres are big into the movies. The Square in Tallaght has the adjacent UCI multiplex, while at Liffey Valley, the Ster Century multiplex, claimed to be the largest in the country, opened recently.

Given the number and scope of shopping centres around the country, it's hardly surprising that they are going to feature so strongly on so many people's shopping lists this Christmas.