Easy for me anyway. I put a call into the Irish Embassy to enquire about a student visas and they told me that all I need to do is check in with the police when I arrive in Dublin and have my passport and documents proving I will be attending school there. They will then stamp my passport and I am good to go. No application process, no lengthy wait period, just a simple easy task that I don't need to worry about until I get there.

Still trying to sort out the mess that the Greek and Spanish impose on this whole process.