Daithi: You must be mad.. As a Munster man, I recall when one year one of of our Irish exam papers was in Donegal Irish and we had little knowledge of some of the words. In fact as I recall the matter was later raised in the Dail.
Pavane: For the old Irish script, try and get hold of Father Patrick Dineen's "Focloir Gaedilge agus Bearla" (Irish-English Dictionary) published by the Irish Texts Society, Dublin. ISBN is 1-870-16600-0. It gives a comprehensive guide on pronounciation using the old script, which incidentally I find easier than the modern one.
Best of luck
Fiolar