I've had recent experience with this. I met with a reputable patent attorney's office (PM me if you want the name) and got the inital consultation for free. They will let you know what is involved in the patent and explore your reasons for the patent.
I approached them with a view to patent a new software product I am developing. Initially I wnated to patent it to avail of (perfectly legitimate) tax-free royalty scheme, but was also concerned about protecting my IP.
Indications are that for software patent, I will pass the test for a general patent allowing me to avail of the royalty scheme, but have only a 10% chance of getting a protective patent.
Even a preliminary patent application costs a bit (approx 3k), valid for 12months, allowing you to put 'patent pending' on your product, and if I wanted to go for the 'royalty' type patent, could cost me 16k. Others can do it cheaper but they submit all applications to UK as well as Irish Patent office, as an Irish patent is worth the paper it is written on.
Very upfront discussion, you will get the info you need with no cost as first meeting free. they are not pushy and if they think you are wasting your time applying for a patent they will tell you