On my own, I’d take you up on that. But since neither my wife nor I have seen either of my girls since January, and two of the four of us are unnecessarily shy, I think the idea of popping off to meet some people I don’t know in a pub might get a frosty reception.
You say you’re staying in the south but, in the unlikely event you find yourself in Northern Ireland, do not, I repeat, do not get into an accident on a Sunday. After drinking much beer in pubs in Doolin the previous night. In a car rented in the Republic. As a result of making a sudden right turn off the highway into that gas station/pub in order to use the pay phone. Thereby narrowly avoiding a direct head-on collision (but still doing substantial damage to both cars - no injuries) with the couple on their way to meet friends for lunch to celebrate their first ever BRAND NEW car.
Should you do so, I’d suggest not taking pictures with the disposable camera in the glove box supplied by the rental company for just such an event. It may be mis-interpreted by the other driver as some sort arrogant touristy thing. Also, learn how to use the pay phone, including international calling codes. Learning as you go can prove to be quite expensive. Those coins aren’t quarters. Don’t expect anyone to answer the phone at the rental place on a Sunday morning, anyway. Plan on spending some time at the pub while waiting for a tow truck to come up north to haul away your wreck. And waiting for your friend (the one you were stopping to call to say “We’re almost there” in the first place) to come pick you up.
Oh, and be nice to the two young and one older cops who investigate the accident and calm down the other driver. They won’t give you a ticket because they know you won’t pay it anyway. Finally, don’t be surprised when its all said and done if the other, completely blameless, driver comes over and cheerfully says, “Welcome to Ireland! Maybe if my car had been red instead of silver you would have seen me!”
And when you make it to another pub in Belfast a couple of days later, move quickly from your car to the front door. There may be someone up there on that hill in the darkness driving golf balls at the pub because he was asked to leave a bit earlier.
I have more such advice but you’ll probably be O.K. if you stay in hotel and drink vodka.
MikeF reminded me, buy a pre-paid cell phone while you’re in the airport. It can be very difficult to find one at a decent price anywhere else, and the ones they sell at the airport work all over the island, while the ones in the mall may only work in the Republic. (Again, information from 2004, may be past it’s expiry date.)
Ah, man…I wanna go to Ireland! Will bookmark this thread for future consideration…
Since I have a good portion of Irish Dopers here, and sorry for the slight hijack…I have a question. What is the geopolitical history on this section of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland? It is essentially a peninsula without a road linking it to the rest of the country. Are you able to cross the border freely into Northern Ireland anywhere between the two countries?
It may look like rain, it may smell like rain, hell it might even be rain but drive on for 15 minutes or wait half an hour and it wont be rain any longer.
You can cross the border freely. During the Troubles there were British Army checkpoints on many roads and customs posts too. Now you might miss that you’ve moved from one jurisdiction to the other.
With regard to that area of the border, I found this blogpost informative.
Well, I should be making my first ever trip to Ireland in a week’s time. A bit embarrassing that it’s taken until this point in my life to finally get there, but better late than never! 
D
Looks like I’ll be flying into Belfast, rattling quickly along to Donegal Town, meeting up with a friend, wandering back along the north coast a little, then heading south to Drogheda for Newgrange, and finishing up in Dublin. It’ll all be done in hops, as I’ll only be away for around ten days. Looking forward to it! 
Make sure and check out Oliver Plunkett’s head when you’re in Drogheda. 
Finally from me (I think 
) if you want something a little different in Dublin, away from Temple Bar, you can visit Dawson’s Lounge in Dawson Street near St. Stephen green. It is the smallest pub in Dublin. The publican was very friendly and when we went it was not full of tourists - probably as not enough room. When we ordered lunch he left us alone in the bar and went to the sandwich shop next door to get us what we ordered. Using the toilets is a challenge.
Here is a picture of us (showing what an ogre I am) but it really doesn’t demonstrate how tiny the place is.
It’s a great wee bar. Grogan’s of South William St. would be another suggestion for a nice place for a pint, away from Temple Bar.
And now a question:
I’m a bitter drinker. Will I be going thirsty?
I’ve always dreamed of going during the Dublin Horse Show.
StG
They have smooth ales - Kilkenny and Caffrey’s style - in many pubs. Not terribly bitter but at least not lager. But come on man - you drink bitter, and you’re in the home of Guinness? The answer is obvious.
Jjim, can you still get Caffreys? When I was there last year I tried from Dublin to Achill Island and could not find any. And when I asked at pubs I just drew blank looks.
And for the OP- I am a bitter drinker but not fussed on Guinness. I assure you, there is no way you will be thirsty. There is always Carlsberg and Tennants for take aways. On Sundays the opening hours for booze are a bit strange; you may want to look up those locally.
As far as I know it doesn’t exist anymore.
Speaking of small pubs - I believe the place is called McIntyre’s in Cushendun, Northern Ireland. We were told it used to be the smallest pub in Ireland until they expanded a couple of years prior to our visit. The original part had a bar that would sit three, maybe four people. No tables or anything else as I recall. It was a dark and rainy night so we had quite a few with the bartender and the one other customer who was the local travelling doctor. It seems house calls are the rule and not the exception in that area. The whole Antrim coast is beautiful, the Rope Bridge, Giant’s Causeway, Dunluce Castle and more
Yeticus Rex, it is isn’t a border marked by a fence or wall or anything.
When driving on the main motorway and crossing the border outside Newry, the indications that you have done so are subtle.
Crossing from the Republic to the North, the outside line on the main road changes from a yellow dashed line to a white solid line, the speed limits change from kmph to mph and Irish disappears from the signage.
There isn’t a “You have now entered Ireland/the UK” sign or a checkpoint or anything.
Google map streetview the A1/N1 intersection at the border outside Newry.
Since I’ve never used it, I gave that a go. Hopefully I’ve done this right: here’s the link for the border on the N1 heading into the UK. If you nudge forward, you’ll see the change in road markings, and the UK road sign “Speed Limit n [sic] Miles Per Hour”. If you rotate so that you’re facing south, hop over to the other side of the road, and nudge backwards a bit, you’ll see the converse change, with the Republic’s bilingual road sign “Teorainneacha Luais Ciliméadair san Uair / SPEED LIMITS KILOMETRES PER HOUR”.
That’s why I said “Caffrey’s style”: I’m actually not sure Irish pubs ever served Caffreys. Think it was an “Oirish” drink for export only.
Re. the border: a few years ago I drove from Co. Leitrim in the Republic into Co. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, with an English friend who was absolutely terrified of Northern Ireland - an emotional reaction based on ignorance and three decades of awful, but cherry-picked, news reports about civil unrest and terrorism.
I didn’t tell her when we’d crossed the border. Being English she didn’t notice the change of the roadsigns and markings to the UK versions because they looked so normal to her. We stopped in a small town and went for a pint. It being a border town they took euros and gave euro change without remark, so she didn’t notice that either. Then I drove us back into the Republic, and I only told her where she’d been when we got back to where we were staying.
Ding ding ding saved me typing it. Killarney town was crap though we enjoyed the nearby Muckross estate tour. One thing about the Ring of Kerry – I’'m not sure when it starts, but during high season there are a million buses which makes for slow (and to an American, scary nonetheless) driving. jjimm is right on that the Dingle ring road (Beara too) are equally breathtaking but (at least when we were last there) less jammed. BTW, when driving any of these ring roads, or really when driving anywhere other than the handful of divided roadways, the driver should not expect to see too much. Compared to America, most Irish roads are narrow, have limited paved shoulder, and are undivided, so that passing and (less than in Germany, but still) impatient trailing cars flashing their lights at you to speed up demand enhanced concentration. If you’re driving, expect to utter a lot of “that’s great, Honey” as your Mrs. exclaims at the scenery and you try to avoid hitting a sheep or getting pulverized by an oncoming semi. Put differently, I concluded my last couple of trips involved too much driving for me to fully enjoy (my companion had a great time though). I’d say budget no more than a few hours driving in any one day, which is enough to get you around if you’re not trying to circumnavigate the whole island (my mistake, for which I earned nightly shoulder rubs as my upper body was clenched in full racecar driver mode after six hours of tense piloting).