Brendan,
3) You get "provisional approval"
as far as I remember, this approval is valid for a few months (I think it is 6 months) and you need to find the house within this period (if you do not have one yet). In my case I had my first house ready for inspection by them at the time of “provisional approval”, but their engineer did not like the house due to fire regulations and it was rejected, within the next 2 months I found the second house and this one was approved. I had also my own structural engineer inspecting the houses but it was not required by council, if I remember well as this was a new house. They send their own anyway.
Regarding the contract between the purchaser and council; council have their own standard agreement which they sent to independent solicitor for review (cost around 100 euro because he acts as an advisor only), this is a standard agreement so I do not think there is possibility to negotiate anything. The agreement after review and your signature in the solicitor office was sent back to the council, I don't have a copy at home, but i think our solicitor has one. I will try to get a copy from council (or solicitor) and forward to you, but it may take a while.
Skier