The multiplex expansion continues unabated here, with another 26 screens set to open in Co Dublin before the end of the summer - 12 in Dun Laoghaire and 14 in Quarryvale. The disadvantage of the escalating number of screens is that movies open more widely than ever before, resulting in shorter runs and more films released. Movies which fail to ignite the box-office on their opening weekend are often written off when those figures are tallied on Monday mornings.

For films opening without the publicity juggernauts of the Hollywood studios, positive word-of-mouth and reviews are crucial in this ruthless decision-making. However, this decade's remarkable upsurge in Irish film production has met with decidedly mixed results at the country's box-office.

Neil Jordan's Michael Collins broke all Irish box-office records and remains the country's second biggest hit after Titanic, which eclipsed its takings last year. In The Name Of The Father and The Commitments were both huge hits, and feature in the all-time top 10 at the box-office here, while in recent years The General, The Butcher Boy, Dancing At Lughnasa, I Went Down and This Is My Father turned in very healthy returns in excess of £500,000 each on Irish release - well in excess, in some cases.

At the other end of the scale, however, a number of films failed dismally on release here - and an even longer list of movies failed to even secure cinema distribution because their producers could not persuade distributors that they would recover the costs of prints, marketing and censorship, never mind turning a profit.

In such a climate, this week's launch of Clarence Irish Classics videos clearly fills a gap in the market. It's an initiative which brings together an independent distributor in Clarence Pictures, the country's biggest video chain in Xtra-Vision, and the Irish Film Board.

The company's major release this weekend is Pat O'Connor's Dancing At Lughnasa (reviewed in VCR today), and it will be followed next month by the release of 12 Irish features. They are Jim Sheridan's first two films, My Left Foot and The Field, Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Nothing Personal, Paddy Breathnach's Ailsa, Mike Newell's Into The West, Martin Duffy's The Boy From Mercury, Gerry Stembridge's Guiltrip, Graham Jones's How To Cheat In The Leaving Certificate, Robert Dornhelm's A Further Gesture, Sue Clayton's The Disappearance of Finbar, Suri Krishnamma's A Man Of No Importance and Dagmar Hirtz's Moondance. Further releases will follow in time.

All of the films will be available for rental initially before going on sell-through release in the summer. The films will be available to rent exclusively at the 225 Xtra-Vision stores across the country, where they will be prominently advertised through a dedicated display and shelf space.

The initiative was warmly commended by the arts minister, Sile de Valera, when she launched the Clarence collection in Dublin this week. Pointing out that the opportunities for viewing some Irish films have been limited in the past, she welcomed every new opportunity for Irish audiences to see indigenous productions.

"The Irish Film Board has been involved in the production of over 50 films and is dedicated to getting the widest possible audience for Irish cinema," Rod Stoneman, the board's chief executive, commented. "Our partnership with Clarence Pictures and Xtra-Vision for a new Irish video label is a huge step forward in making Irish cinema available both here and abroad."

To promote Clarence Irish Classics, a trailer has been produced by Lesley McKimm for screening in cinemas and at XtraVision stores. Brilliantly edited by Dermot Diskin, it assembles 88 images in a dazzling 90 seconds. Look out for it.