Lots of good advice, most of it scary (appropriately so).
Let me suggest that when you get your license, do a lot of easy driving in low-density stress-free settings. Drive around your neighborhood. Park in an empty parking lot and see if you’re in the lines. Try some parallel parking in a REALLY big space so you’re not so nervous when you need to do it in a really small space (backup cameras help a lot here). Pull up to a curb, get out and see how close your wheels are to the curb, then get back in the car and look out the windows to see what “close” looks like. Make practice U-turns and 3-point turns in empty streets even if you don’t need to do so (make sure they’re legal). Pull into a parking garage or your own garage slowly. Take some spins around roundabouts to know how it feels to drive in a circle and what the exits look like. Drive on cloudy, rainy, sunny days and and at night (if permitted at first). Learn how to instinctively turn on wipers or headlights. If you have snow in your area, do some practice driving and braking on slippery areas.
All of that isn’t to keep you safe per se, but to get you comfortable handling a vehicle, so when a situation arrives you won’t panic on how to actually drive and how your vehicle responds in different situations.
For the first (few) year(s), only drive your own car. Don’t borrow any others. Not only because of the difference between stick-shift and automatic. But becasue the placement of the levers is different in each model; the wight and size is different for each model, so it reacts differently. You need to learn how your car reacts and how to operate it automatically.
Once you have that down and enough experience with trafffic to feel you can borrow a car from your friends, take 5 minutes before you start looing at where the levers and the dials are. Drive slowly and test how it brakes, before you fully drive.
Adopt one idea from sailboat racing: Above all else, avoid collisions.
Your car is no less damaged and you are no less hurt in a crash just because you had the right of way. Better to avoid the collision if possible.
What stands out to me is your responsible attitude and your desire to be a safe driver. This is far from universal among people of your age getting behind the wheel of a car. I certainly was not like that when I was your age - it is largely through good fortune that I got through those first years of driving without serious mishap.
My top advice for you is to model your idea of good driving on a chauffeur and not a rally driver. Accelerate, brake and turn smoothly so that your (imaginary) passengers don’t spill their coffee. This will require you to anticipate upcoming manoeuvres and to be aware of conditions well ahead of you. It will require you to be calm and alert. You will be a good driver. You will use less fuel, and put less wear on the car. And you will make surprisingly good time - driving calmly doesn’t mean taking a long time to get where you are going.
The dangerous time is when you start to think you are a good driver. Over time your confidence will increase until it exceeds your competence. Most of us think we are good drivers. Then we scare ourselves by doing something dangerous or stupid, and if we are wise we take that as an opportunity to reconsider our driving behaviours. The best thing that can happen to any driver is to get a reminder that they are not as good as they think they are, and for this to happen without anyone getting hurt.
If you are tired while driving, and get to the point where you are finding it hard to keep your eyes open, you need to stop! It is nearly impossible to stay awake through sheer willpower.
Ireland is full of idiotic drivers. Sometimes I am one of them, sometimes you will be. There is a driving culture that emphasises speed and risk-taking, especially as you go further north and west. Don’t buy into that culture; it endangers other road users and not just you.
Be considerate and courteous. Use your indicators. (Really, how lazy do you have to be, not to use your indicators?) Dip your headlamps. Let people in/out. Don’t seek to punish another driver who does something wrong or finds themselves in the wrong lane (that could be you or me on a different occasion). You’ll have lots of opportunities while driving to make the world a little more or a little less civilised.
Watch out for cyclists! Develop the habit of looking over your shoulder every time you turn or change lane. Every time. Don’t let a passenger open a door until you’ve checked that it is safe. Leave a safe distance when passing cyclists.
Seconded. I installed a dashcam last year after a close call with a pedestrian who did not have the right of way, and my light turned red immediately after the close call; if I had flattened her, anyone who looked at the aftermath would have said I didn’t have right of way.
A dashcam won’t help you drive better, but it may save you from a lot of grief if an incident does happen.