We just returned from a two week tour of the south and west of Ireland with intentions of a full report soon, but just a few things about car rentals and driving to refresh future travelers. First of all for setting up a rental car, I ran into what others had seen when it comes to not ending up with the bill I had expected. You really don't expect the insurance charges to rack up so much! I started from a 665 euro quote for a mid-size automatic through Nova which ended up with an actual booking from Budget. While I had thought that most insurances were covered, I knew that I wanted the peace and mind of the super CDW. Adding 11.50 a day for that and 6.00 a day for Personal Accident insurance, by bill was $922 euros...ouch. I'm still not really sure if I got screwed or not..sure feels like it! As for driving, if you haven't driven on the left before...just sitting down and looking in the rear view mirror to your left for the first time will lead you to think that you won't be able to understand what's behind you. It's one of those tricks your brain plays on you, it's just fine after a few more glances while you are driving.
   I knew ahead of time that even with the Super coverage, that tires were not included....so of course, I did blow a tire and had to buy a new one. Narrow roads and driving a bit close to the left berm will find those little shards of metal that are waiting! Those roads that are seen as a sort of 'highway' as the green/white roads on an Ordnance survey map (good map BTW) would seem to be wide enough, can be a bit hard to get used to...but fun after a while. While the passenger may be able to see over the hedges that surround the roads, if the driver is trying to see too much while driving on some of the inland roads, they could easily lose concentration. So....drive slow and make more stops...I should have done more of both!!
One final point. If you do pull off the road to get out..take a picture etc.. and you are to the right side. You may find yourself pulling into the right lane and thinking nothing of it. I did it once in Australia, and again on this trip. BEWARE!

Look for pics and a report a bit later!!