I'd say the Spanish will take your arm off if you come offering to buy property there right now. The market is on the floor, there's very little activity going on in Spain -- a bit like here.
Having said that, if you hanker after a good holiday home, this is a great time to buy in Spain. I would advise you to pick out several properties that you feel suit your needs, and offer really low on all of them. From what I hear, lots of sellers are panicking and accepting very low offers on really nice properties.
The buying process is simple, and the lawyers are generally very good and have English speaking staff. The actual transaction is carried out by a Notary, who also collects the taxes on the sale. Take advice from other owners about the reliability of lawyers etc. Don't go down the route of using Irish lawyers, they typically sublet to Spanish law firms anyway, so cut out the middle man!
I would advise you not to buy in a new development at this time. Many of these are either unfinished and likely to remain so, or have a lot of unsold units in them with consequent issues around common costs etc. Buy only in established and mature developments where you can see what you are getting. As well as that, sellers of new developments can't afford to drop prices to the level of older units that might have been originally bought at small money.