Well as time off work is a problem for me its not insane, it is a major factor in deciding where and how I do my training. I do understand what your saying about the standard of training and that was the reason for my post. To get recommendations and possibly a solution I hadn't thought of.
It is not my intention to be one of those pilots that does the IR course and doesn't use it again until the revelidation is due. Even though my aim is to eventually fly commercially I will also be using it to fly my own aircraft IFR around Europe. I see the IR very much as a licence to learn and have very experienced pilots willing to mentor me and fly IFR trips with me after my training.
Getting the rating done by a good school to a high standard and fitting it around work is the problem though, hence the post.