Clifford, while Julian's idea has merit, I would recommend you wait until EASA have published their Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) for oversight of third-country aircraft/operators (due out at the end of the year), before you undertake an FAA IR.
Rumour has it that this NPA will include new regulation which will effectively ban EU residents from flying N reg aircraft in EASA land. This opens a whole can of worms, not least the fact that FAA IR holders will no longer be able to use their ratings to fly IMC in Europe. This, I suspect, is the real reason FCL008 was instigated - to look into an EASA PPL-biased IR that European FAA IR holders could convert to, and had little to do with saving the IMCr.
Having said that, EASA have been given a severe telling off by their EU political masters recently, who have effectively told the Agency to stop re-inventing the wheel, adopt JAR FCL, and leave the remaining sub-ICAO licences and ratings to national authority oversight.
My hunch is that the IMCr will remain as a UK-only rating, and a European PPL-biased IR will eventually emerge in about five years time.
Rumour has it a new mission statement from EASA is due over the next few weeks.
Regards, jez