Terry,
Sorry for delay in answering - I don't regularly check the forum these days.
Griffith College is one of the smaller colleges in Ireland, but it has a good reputation. You may hear of some of the small language and business colleges in Ireland closing down in recent years and students losing money. Griffith seems to be very sound and there have not been any problems. They are based in Dublin Cork and Limerick. There should be a good social life in each of those cities. I know that student rent is expensive in Dublin - I'm not sure about the other 2.
My 2 sons are well past that stage, so I do not have any real experience in that field. If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask. I live in Dublin.

Tim,

I retired September 2013, so I did spend a lot of time on the cat over the summer - still working on it, but I got in a good bit of sailing as well.
The weather was exceptionally mild this Autumn. We had many days in tea shirts right to the end of October.
Not wishing any harm on your passengers, but it would be nice to see you

Dermot.