Thanks for your great replies, i will be keeping all this info for future reference as we have now changed our plans and want to go camping in italy, not far from Rome as we are then heading to cyprus!
If you are looking for a beach/pool holiday, then why not rent a villa or large apartment? My husband is Greek so we travel to Greece frequently and I have always found that self-booking is much more cost effective than booking through agents in the UAE. www.holidayrentals.co.uk has a lot of properties which might be suitable for your family. Most beach clubs throughout Greece have play areas for kids. The only family friendly hotel I have stayed at in Greece is the Westin at Vouliagmeni which is an upmarket coastal town about 20kms south of Athens. They have a small private beach which is popular with kids and also a kids club.
Ireland is also an option we are considering but we have no idea on the best area etc
We just booked ourselves to stay at a cottage in county wicklow....I think it's about 1.5 hour or so from Dublin. Farm, mountain and lakes :)
http://www.visitwicklow.ie/
<em>edited by blimey on 24/03/2011</em>
My immediate thought on Greece was Club Med, which is great catering for children if you also want to have adult time, but also lets you do masses of outdoor sports (never been, just heard about it!). I thought there were a few Club Med locations in Greece, but quoogle only finds 1 mentioned (Gregolimano: http://www.clubmed.co.uk/cm/resort-gregolimano-greece_p-341-l-EN-CMCID-0047010618EN_en-v-GREC-ac-vh.html )
and that is on Evia island, which is a beautiful place, though had a bad summer fire a couple of years ago.
I've been told Grecotels are excellent, with plenty of activities for adults and children, but they are not within our budget: http://www.grecotel.com/
We used to go to a very family friendly hotel on the beach in the Peloponnese, but there were no activities specifically for kids laid on there, though it is close to Patras, which is a thriving port:
http://www.agoda.com/europe/greece/kaminia/poseidon_hotel.html
Oh, my gosh, looking at the pics, it has clearly had a "make-over" since we were last there, so I don't know what to say! It is right next door to the more up-market Poseidon Palace Hotel:
http://www.agoda.com/europe/greece/kaminia/poseidon_palace_hotel.html
Otherwise, in the north of Greece, there is the Halkidiki peninsula, which is not far from Thessaloniki, Greece's second city, and is particularly beautiful. I'm afraid I can't recommend a hotel there, though. As in the UAE, the northern Greek area has become overrun with rather loud Russians in the last few years. Things change very fast with hotels there, too.
My favourite island is Mykonos, but again, I'm afraid I have no recommendations for hotels there as we are lucky enough to be able to stay with friends there.
As for Ireland, I think you can be sure wherever you go, it will be a lot cooler than Greece :)
We are looking at going to Greece in the summer, any recommendations on location, hotels etc would be appreciated , must have plenty for kids to do. Thanks