Hey everybody,
I've been searching around the web and i can upon this site:
http://www.language-learning-advisor.com/learning-irish.html

would any of you recommend any of these courses as an introduction to irish before i can get out and get a book?

Just giving this a cursory browse....it looks adequate to me. It's essentially the same stuff you'll find in any book you get. What you will miss is the audio...perhaps the most vital aspect of learning Irish. But, you can get that from some of the sound files on this site.

I took an 8 week course from http://www.gaeltalk.net (not for free but relatively inexpensive) that I enjoyed. Especially since it is in Munster dialect which is what I was particularly looking for.

Along with the written lessons and exercises, there are sound bytes and an opportunity to speak to an instructor live.