No, you have read that wrong. There are no credits towards the EIR for the IMC rating -- you have to do the full 15 hours. There are credits towards the CBM route to the IR, to the extent that an IMC-rated pilot may require as little as 10 hours.
What about conversion to the EIR from ICAO IR?
I have the FAA IR and on top of that IR(R) due to the FAA IR. Obviously flying airways is a piece of cake and I have done hundreds of hours of IFR flights.
For most of my flying, if I had the EIR, IR(R) and FAA IR then I would be more than happy. Most of my flying time is spent in the UK (or USA), rather than Europe and for Europe the biggest advantage would to be able to get back home again - where approaches would be legal. I don't plan to fly approaches at LHR, but even that will become class D one day, so effectively this Combo would give me a full IR in the UK.
The biggest benefit of the EIR is "airspace avoidance". You file your FP and all airspace disappears......it is great stuff. It also means I can get up high in the UK, where out TC'd aircraft really comes into its own.
Of course this is nothing new and nothing that we don't already have by virtue of a N reg and FAA IR, but I would be quite happy with this combo. I am presuming the IR(R) and EIR could be re-validated in one flight?