Pipergirl, Powder Monkey and Examiner thanks again for all you input.
As mentioned myself and three other Irish students are looking to start our IR in early December. We have contacted a number of schools in England & Ireland.
The feedback that we have received so far is that the English schools are better equiped and organised and that the Irish schools still are not quite up to speed. Having said that based on minimums we have been quoted approx. 12000 stg for the IR in England. This does not include cost of living, flight etc. After factoring all of this in and based on previous experience we have budgeted for 16000/17000 stg.
When we looked at NFC, PTC & Atlantic Cork the sim ranges from 100 - 130 euro and 400 euro for the dual hire of a twin. Based on minimums and including all other fees this comes out at approx 16000/17000 euro. With current exchange rates we would save approx 11000 euro.
Thanks for clearing that up about being able to start the lesson once you leave the zone in weston and it makes sense about heading to waterford for a couple of days. I was under the impression that i would be wasting between 1-1.2 hours each flight at 400 euro an hour.
Final question i have heard that booking an examiner in Ireland can take some time can anyone tell me if this is the case?
Thanks again for all your help!