Now You're Talking tapes I have bounced into Ulster-ville. I suppose Donegal qualifies as western and sentimental, though. Lots of people favour Munster because of the popularity of Teach Yourself Irish , but I have never knowingly heard it, and the written dialect doesn't call home to me as much as the others. I suspect that the enthusiastic hordes of self-learners in the U.S. are bound to end up with a mishmash accent. I don't see any problem with this.
Consistency ought to suffice for understanding.
I like languages. I have always argued for the usefulness of being multilingual, and I admit that speaking Irish will probably not get you a promotion at work or keep you from ordering something disgusting in a restaurant. But here we come back again to the soppy side of the language - Irish seems to call to some people and welcome them in. As I have mentioned elsewhere, Irish had a feeling of familiarity to me from the beginning. It had a certain inexplicable appeal anyway, but I remember being relieved that it came easily and the rules made sense.