I applied trough a employee referral. I received a phone call from hr that was asking a few things and then explaining me to compile lots of forms online, especially the one of your previous background, that took forever. It's not just about your last 3 jobs, but all the jobs you had in a lifetime, or even in a previous one....same thing for the address you lived in and so on...with lots of details that you have to put in. After a week or two I went for the 1 . 1 interview with the hr person I spoke on the phone and the head of the section I was supposed to work with. The hr person over the phone lied to me on the flexibility of the shifts(I asked specifically if you could swap with colleagues and so on) with my visible surprise they were fixed! Such an experience to find out straight away that hr lied to you not even you're in the company, they avoided me the pain to find it out later on.

It was my first interview in Ireland, so I can't compare but I had a good experience on it. So my advice is study about the company and you will have good chances.