I am planning to tour western Ireland (Mayo area) but may have to fly into Dublin rather than Shannon. How's the driving from and to the Dublin airport assuming that I won't have to go to the city as I'm just planning to travel to west Ireland?
Unless you want to take some out of the way country roads, you will most likely have to get on the M50 toll road for a ways. Depending on time of day the motorway can be smooth sailing, stop-and-go or gridlock.