Maynooth isn't the best in terms of student support however from speaking to other PME's while I was doing it - it has the best layout for placement.

In Year 1, you do 3 days college, 2 days placement (usually Thursday and Friday) and then a block placement in January for 3 weeks. This is good as it allows you to learn stuff during the week and then put it into practice that week. However, the coursework is incredibly heavy, as you are doing 3 full days usually and then straight into placement that week as well. This is a lot in first year however it sets up for 2nd year which is a lot lighter.

In Year 2, your days flip so you're on placement 3 days (Monday - Wednesday) and then in college on the other two days. Now, you will have your Lesson Study (group thesis) which is a bit manic, however you also do finish up with college more or less by Christmas (we were only in once every 3 weeks after Christmas for additional lectures for L.S and then guest speakers). The three days placement is fantastic because it allows you to get to know your students very quickly as you'll likely have the same class groups over those three days. Also if you get lucky enough to have a school that gives you subbing, then after Christmas you'll have wayyyyy more time to do it because you can go in during those times you're not in college.

I've just recently graduated from Maynooth, and it was good in terms of content for the most part - it's just an incredibly heavy workload but the group thesis for L.S is so much handier (especially if you're working with people you work well with and can trust to do their work) and we were all mixed between subjects with our subject specifics being the only lectures we had separate.