I called the UK tax office yesterday but could not get through. If I am able to get a definitive answer I will post it here otherwise I am going to apply separately and see how that goes. Another thought that has just occurred to me is that I was only able to buy the cheaper UK Class 2 contributions after I provided my Irish work record. My wife paid a lot more buying Class 3 because she did not work in Ireland. I hope that they wont expect those years to be allocated to my UK pension otherwise my Irish pension will be severely reduced.