Automatic to manual license?

It's not really a full licence if you can't drive a manual.

Your going to be spending about €1,000 on lessons, licenses and driving tests if you change. Insurance will be expensive too as a learner. Why not put that money towards an automatic car? You can get reliable automatic cars for as little as €2,000

Edit: Maybe you wouldn’t spend €1,000 because theres no mention of having to do 12 lessons again. But you’d still need some lessons to pass.

It's similar adding a new category to a license. It requires a skill that is not tested or included in your current license. Until you have been assessed as being sufficiently competent you are a learner in that category and subject to all the usual restrictions of a learner.

I'm driving over 30 years. Should I be able to add an E category without going through learner + test process - sure it's only pulling something behind the car I already know how to drive.

Similarly I can drive a Ford Transit van or similar on a B license, should I be able to drive something over the 3500 MAM limit because it's just a little bit bigger or should I have to go through the learner and test process for a C1 or C license?

I need a B license in all the above and have to go through the learner + test process to cover the training and assessment in the additional skills needed. Going from a B with restriction to driving vehicles with automatic transmission to B without restriction is similar.

Is getting a driving test any quicker for a USA immigrant who is now living/working in Ireland who wants to change the USA one to IRL one, apparently over there they don't discriminate between manual and automatic, you just have e driving licence.

It's not much quicker. You need to do the theory test, get a learner permit and pass the test. The only saving is that you would only need to do 6 EDT lessons instead of the usual 12 lessons. While driving on your Irish learner permit you are subject to the usual learner restrictions.

It doesn't work that way

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel-and-recreation/motoring/driver-licensing/exchanging-foreign-driving-permit/

An exchanged license will be easily identified by the inclusion of code 70 noted in section 12 on the back of the license.

are you on some sort of crusade?

No idea where you heard that as the US doesn’t issue driving licences, individual states do and none of them are capable of being exchanged in the U.K. Not today, not 20 years ago.

so, if you get a manual licence, your insurance resets, so loose all nocalims ect, just buy the auto.