There's some stuff about coat types here. I've never seen an Irish coated pup, but have met a few adults - over in Ireland actually and they feel soft and silky and have a bit of a sheen. I'm told their coats can be quite harsh as pups, but develop in the soft ringlets they have when they're older. My girl's coat changed a lot when she was spayed and became quite cottony, which was really annoying and much harder to groom.
I was actually at college to do canine studies with a woman that had several beardies and we did notice a similarity in their coat and the tools we both used to groom them. I bought a copy of the breed club's video on grooming and trimming (it was a video rather than a CD because I am that old) and taught myself to do her coat rather than paying a groomer. I loved it doing it though. When she was elderly I kept her trimmed short, as she never really enjoyed having her coat done and it seemed kinder not to stress her out with it.
runningonwillpower, is right about them being muck magnets, their coats suck up mud and dirty water and they do get cold when it's wet out, as they don't have an undercoat to protect them.
I have a great photo somewhere of dh holding our girl at arms length because she was literally dripping with mucky water after a particularly memorable walk when we got caught in a thunder storm while walking in a forest. She looked like a swamp thing! Our girlie hated getting wet or dirty though, so it wasn't too much of an issue. I do think she was unusual in that respect though, as the ones we've met out and about have been more than happy to wallow in every muddy puddle.
Odd that your girl is vocal, running, our girl never barked. I think I can only recall two occasions when she ever barked, one was telling off our upstart of a puppy when she really overstepped he mark and the other was when the same pup escaped from our garden. She was the quiet matriarch of our household and despite being the smallest, ruled the roost over both our other dogs without ever raising her voice.
They are clever and easily bored. My girl had passed her gold good citizen award by the time she was 1 and loved heelwork-to-music, agility and obedience (she was a real show-off ). She thrived on training and would badger me to train her rather than free-run when we were out on walks by constantly throwing fancy heelwork and heelwork-to-music moves at me.
It's important to remember that they are terriers though and - some more than others - retain the terrier traits. Like running's girl, my girl had the sweetest natures and was extremely gentle and patient, but I know others that are pretty full on terriorists.
As running said, if you aren't scared off by a lot of grooming and plenty of muck - which you probably won't be having had beardies before, then the SCWT could well be the dog for you.