Settle down boys and girls! You want to be professional pilots? Act appropriately.
There are many points in favour of IR training in Ireland. The airspace is generally less crowded and flight delays are less than in the UK. On the other side, some peoiple still regard a UK-issued IR as the bench mark.
Waterford has all its own facilities such as ILS and NDB on the field and you would be tested there, where you were familiar with the set up. There is no FNPT so it's all done on the aeroplane, with the obvious disadvantges of weather delays and the inability to exactly replicate scenarios or freeze the action for a discussion.
Weston does have an FNPT but on the other hand training can not commence at the field. However, you do not have to pay for a 40 minute dead leg as training can commence once the aeroplane is outside the zone, so you lose 10 minutes per flight. Having said that, you do need to go to Waterford for procedures, but then most IR trips have a navigation sector so that is not unreasonable. What usually happens is that a couple of students and an instructor go down to Waterford and stay there for a few days.
Cork is very busy with commercial traffic and does not provide a user-friendly training environment although there is something to be said for exposere to crowded skies.
The Irish-issued JAA IR used to be looked down on but the test standard has now been raised and the test is now pretty much the same as in the UK.
You will not save any money by going to Ireland.
Send PM if you need more.