I have been sailing A class catamarans either pure A class or Unicorn catamarans since I was 15, so about 37 years, on and off, sadly there is not a fleet of Unicorns in Ireland but there may be A class.
Most of the top sailers in sail GP and the Americas cup use foiling Aclass catamarans as training boats and are regularly seen in the top 10 of the A-class nationals and worlds.
If you want to race, perhaps buy a non foiling Aclass for around £5k max, use it for a couple of years, upgrade and so on.
First pic. Me racing G Piper, 14x Unicorn national champion
Second pic me racing in 35 knots of wind on the river blackwater
Third pic sailing at Stokes Bay.