What if the UK company won't deliver to Ireland because of the hassle?
The simplest thing to do is to see if you can buy the item in Ireland or in another EU country. The seller will charge you VAT and you don't need to worry about anything.
They can deliver it to a friend of yours in Northern Ireland and you can collect it from them. They will charge UK VAT on it.
While this is technically incorrect, it seems to me to a practical solution and as you are paying VAT to someone, I don't consider it evasion.
I would consider this ok for an occasional import.