FAA IR easy?........NO!!
The only part about the FAA IR that is easy is the writen test, for that you have the chance to get some very good test prep computor programs.
The JAA IR requires a whole lot of buls**t exams that cost the earth and have very little to do with real world flying.
The JAA flight test is highly structured and you know exactly what is to happen and so is a very accademic flight that has to be flown to tight limits.
The FAA flight test that I did was a real test of real time thinking in the air with a divertion to an airfield that I had never seen before, the test culminating in a SE circle to land from a VOR approach.
No IR is easy but the FAA IR is exccesable, the JAA IR is deliberatly made too hard for people to get. Typical european overkill and an air safety issue that should be adressed.