American Buying Car Insurance, Getting Irish Licen (Cork)

Hello! I have just discovered that the most of my worries is not finding a car with reasonable road tax, but instead the big problem is the cost of insurance with an American driver's license. As Ireland does not have a license reciprocity agreement with the US (although it has reciprocity with Canada and many other nations), a US license is good to drive on in Ireland for 12 months but the cost of insurance is ridiculous and unrelated to the number of years you have been driving or your excellent safety record. Americans are requred to go through 6 months of driving school and pay for it before taking driving test. The result is Protected content for insurance for the year and Protected content year after that.
Has anyone dealt with this and found a way around this?
Does anyone have an insurer who will not consider a driver with 30 years experience a new driver with a preliminary license?
Thanks!
Ann