Hi Dan,
I'm in County Kildare, in a town called Leixlip, which is about 18kms west of Dublin, or 11 miles in old money. There seems to be precious little traditional craftwork going on in the country generally, certainly on a commercial scale, and anyone who claims to be doing wrought iron (e.g. gates) tends to be using welders and grinders to do the work, and occasionally making (or buying) a few scrolls and baskets to give it that 'olde worlde' feeling. The big problem is that no-one would actually pay to have a pair of gates made in the traditional way, not here anyway. Having talked a few of these guys in the past, it seems some of them can do the blacksmithing work but it doesn't pay. I got most of my tools from a forge that was part of a woodworking/furniture factory up the road. They would have made and repaired all their woodworking tools themselves on site. But these days just about all our furniture is imported, so this factory along with nearly all the other manufacturing industries in our town closed down.
Cheers for now - will sign off - it's beginning to sound like a Bruce Springsteen song...!
Dec