The publishing phenomenon that is Harry Potter has broken all Irish book-selling records, with stores re-ordering an estimated 50,000 more copies of the J.K. Rowling blockbuster just two days after it went on sale.
While official sales figures for the Republic have not yet been released, Mr Peter McIntyre, spokesman for Bloomsbury distributors in Ireland, said an estimated 300,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had arrived in Ireland.
Bookshops yesterday reported unprecedented demand for the fifth in the Rowling series, about a boy-wizard's struggle with the powers of darkness.
Easons in Galway said it had ordered 2,000 books in advance, 1,300 of which were sold on Saturday alone.
A spokesman at the shop said this was by far the most copies of a single title sold on one day. He said the book was still selling steadily and the store had ordered a further 1,000 copies.
O'Mahony's in Limerick reported unprecedented demand for the book.
A manager at the shop said it had sold out of its stock of 1,000 copies by Sunday, and had to re-order.
"At one stage in the afternoon, we were selling a copy every 10 seconds," she said.
The book had already broken - by 50 per cent - records set by Roy Keane's autobiography in Limerick. The reaction of people had been "amazing", she added.
Even in Cork, local hero Keane's all time best-seller record is teetering, if not quite broken yet.
Independent book trade figures reveal that the Harry Potter book sold almost 1.8 million copies in the first 24 hours of its sale in outlets across the UK.
This is almost five times the record number sold of its series predecessor, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.