Hi sgarvey,
I'm starting my PPL soon in Weston. I have talked to a couple of schools there. The total they have quoted is the guts of 7k to 7.5k min hours.
I don't know your circumstances but I intend to keep working, for the next while anyway. I got my Class 1 about 2 weeks ago and am up for it !
You need to weigh things up, if you do it in the UK, weather, accomodation, living costs on to of the course fees, it'll probably work out the same as Ireland.
Read a couple of threads back, this one has been tackled before.
Laters.