Contract Limited company, Umbrella , PAYE

Hi Guys,

My situation is a little strange. In March this year I finished work with a company I worked for. The plan was to go travelling with a VISA for canada and work in Canada. I filled (i think it was a form P50 since i was supposed to be returning to Ireland by 2011). In May this year I was refunded tax paid for the first 3 months to amount of around 1800.
Fast forward to today, and the working abroad professionally thing has not worked out the way I wanted (basically employers here freak when they see a 1 year working holiday visa and are afraid you will take off some place else). Money is down to nothing and I have had to come back to Ireland and have done interviews and been offered a job.
The thing is.... the job is as an IT contractor. I have only ever worked as a PAYE employee. Assuming a contract rate of 250 euro I was wondering whether I am better going the limited company route or the umbrella company.
In this regard how does my PAYE situation affect my contracting / umbrella/limited company tax situation.
I'm interested to know if anyone has any similar experience... also some advice as to whether I am better off financially working as a PAYE employee.
I have the option of working from home and can work from home in Dublin or Wexford with the requirement that I travel to company headquarters for meetings at least once or twice a week. Assuming for convenience sake I work in Dublin, what sorts of things can i legitimately expense? Am I better of financially making 250 a day as a contractor or as a PAYE employee?

Thanks

r1_2010