Thanks for the replies folks.
Scottish_ppl, I have a few hours with a school here in Ireland, but the exams wouldn't count as Charlie Zulu pointed out.
"you have to be a complete moron to fail them ", englishal, you're tempting fate there mate!
There's a 4 weekender ground school to prep for the exams at my current school. Its €450, which isn't bad if you compare it to what you mention EA.
I'll just have to bury my head in the books first and take it from there!
One last question, should I be enrolling and sorting out my visa before I book my flight?... just in case?