I have an ICAO CPL/IR which is good enough for me, and took me long enough to do.
My comments were on the European v. US political scene.
I have not done a JAA IR because it would be of no use in my N-reg plane. If I have to do it then I will.
The JAA ATPL is unreachable to any private pilot because of the multi crew time requirement, but is easily reachable to somebody with a CPL/IR who has got a RHS commercial job. There is no additional checkride, whereas in FAA-land there is an additional checkride for the ATPL.
Etc.