It's not necessarily a bad thing, maybe you can find reviews of the places here on TA or elsewhere. I've stayed in a B&B for years in Donegal that never bothered to get approved, she always said the cost of being "registered" every year was never supported by the 3-4 booking she would get from the local tourist office every year.

Fully agree with the above comment! Also many more interesting properties cannot recieve the Failte Ireland approval due to small things like the dining room being too far from the kitchen etc. This particularly applies to older or historic properties.. I would trust reviews here before any Failte ireland symbol on the website