Having lived in a rented apartment in one of the new complexes, I was really put off the idea of buying such a place, the walls of which would not even be my own. It seems more like buying living-space rather than buying property.
I think anyone buying someplace as their home is making an investment in the area and will want to be concerned about how things are there. I don't think Irish apartment complexes don't lend themselves to this.
I've seen how it works in German and Italian cities, where apartment blocks seem maintained to a very high standard, have people of all ages living in them and they stay for the long-term. People get to know other people in the building and it's really neighbourly.
My Irish experience was of single or cohabiting, mainly young people, many of whom stayed for less than a year and who never saw eachother. The apartment was badly laid out with cheapish fixtures and fittings. There was almost no storage space, the kitchen could only accommodate one person at a time. There were stupid rules about what could/could not be put on the balcony and my G/F was scared to go on her own to the carpark/bins in the basement because she was scared of being mugged or attacked!
The only advantages I can imagine are that the place didn't need heated - the storage heating was never put on once right through the winter - and it was seriously easy to keep clean and tidy, we had no room for much stuff because there was nowhere to put it. From the sound of it, I think apartments could well become v.desirable locations for elderly people to live!
If I was to buy a place, I would get another house because at least its all your own, there's more space and it seemed an awful lot more neighbourly with so much more investment in the community than the complex had.
Just my opinion.
Paulone