Okay, another basic question that is freaking driving me bananas.

Is maith liom a bheith ag cócaireacht.

What form of the verb cócaráil is cócaireacht? It's like a verbal noun, but it's not *the* verbal noun.

And are there rules for how to form this whatever-it-is?

GRMA!

It's the noun for "cooking, cookery" derived from cócaire "cook (i.e. a person who cooks)". The -(e)acht ending is used to form nouns for actions performed by people of certain occupations and is derived from the name for that occupation in a similar manner to English "-ship" (e.g., "seamanship", "penmanship", etc.) or "-y" (e.g., "cookery", "pottery", "archery", etc.).

Here it is being used as a verbal noun. It is not the standard form which would be cócaráil, but it may be a dialect form, probably Connemara.

We discussed this [at great length] before.

The verb Cócaráil is rarely used, but cócaireacht is well established as a practice. Ó Dónaill defines it as (The act of) cooking.

Eisceacht eile atá ann, A Dhomhnaill!

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cócaire [ainmfhocal firinscneach den cheathrú díochlaonadh]
duine a ullmhaíonn bia le hithe.

Foirmeacha Dírithe :
cócaireacht [ainmfhocal baininscneach den tríú díochlaonadh]

(An Foclóir Beag doesn't list cócaráil - because it is rare!)

Older threads

http://www.daltai.com/discus/messages/13510/25105.html

http://www.daltai.com/discus/messages/13510/25058.html

Is maith liomsa a bheith ag foghlaimeoireacht, múinteoireacht, sagartacht, muctach, etc. Learnership, teachery, priestery, piggery. Absurd, but I'll bet the absurd process of confabulation will result in my never forgetting it.