To this day the topic of where to hold Irish championships is hotly debated, with a division between those who say choosing Dublin all the time is monotonous and unfair to non-Dublin players, and those who say that non-Dublin venues result in much smaller tournaments. The 2000 championship, held in the “scenic village” of Castleconnell, Co. Limerick (Wikipedia’s description) could be cited by both sides: it had a very small field of 12, tying the record low for a Swiss-format championship, but on the other hand the field was strong enough and the championship came down to a race between two players who had never won, Mark Heidenfeld finally shaking off Gavin Wall in the last round.
A report is up on the tournaments page: all 53 games (though at least one seems to be incomplete).