Driving in Ireland.

You can also pay the toll the day of, online or by phone.

On narrower roads, be careful with the bushes on the sides, as there's often a stone wall behind.

Slow down for the tractors - we came across several on the roads of County Clare. We saw them often just roll through intersections, without stopping or slowing.

Don't leave it to the "next guy" to pull in on the narrow roads - anticipate and pull in yourself if you see a good spot to do so.

Finally, have fun asking for directions - then trying to fully understand the answer... ;-)

The first bit of advice for me is to find a car with an automatic transmission. A clutch is no problem for me, but if I'm going to be sitting on the right, driving on the left, running about 24" from those lovely hedges, it's one less thing to do, and that's a good thing.
The second thing, and this saved me, is to buy down the CDW to a zero deductible. You would then likely be responsible just for tires, and perhaps windscreen. I did this on a four day rental, and two days later a driver in Tralee nearly took my door off when I opened it-we were parked. So the extra $80 or so that I spent to get a zero deductible just saved me $1350.00. I returned the car in Cork and no big deal there, the door edge was pretty well curled...
If you have a passenger, know that it can be a little freaky zipping along the hedges too, though they do kind of seal up the road a bit, never had any animal run across in front of us.
Mostly though, it's understanding that if you calculate an hour to get somewhere, just double it. Small roads, tractors, great scenery.
Dave

An Irish friend told me that if I was ever in doubt about whether my vehicle and the oncoming one would both fit on the road, I should just stop and let them approach me. He said the moving vehicle is the one at fault if you should scrape.

Driving in Ireland has become a challenge on the narrow country roads with the number of cars that are on the roads and the extreme speed that everyone drives. I have driven in Ireland since my first trip in 1971 but now find it sorta terrifying.

I agree with the comments about pulling over into the closest wide spot in the road for on-coming traffic. Do not wait until you are nose-to-nose.
The freeway tolls can also be paid at some convenience stores around Dublin.
We paid extra for GPS in our rental car last fall and found it was absolutely worthless in Ireland. It constantly nagged with wrong directions and changing directions. Didn't even do it with a lovely Irish accent! When we got back to turn the car in, the rental car company said they have complaints about it and gave us our money back.
L

1. Speed limits on country roads are way off.
2. In a panic, you revert to your old "driving on the right" maneuvers. Keep reminding yourself of this.
3. If a sign says to turn, turn at the sign, not the next road.
4. Gas pumps are sometimes on a sidewalk.
5. GPS's sometimes find roads/paths that cross fields.
6. Cows on road don't like to move.
7. Car rental agency hand drawn maps are not very good.
8. You can go around a round-a-bout more than once.
9. Tires squeal real loud when you scrape a sidewalk.
10. Remove all grass before returning car to rental place. See # 5

Warren - hilarious - #5. Thanks for the tips!

Unless you really, really, really need a 4 door, go with the smaller vehicle. In 97 drove a lovely two door with a clutch around the entire island solo. Did fine simply because I grew up driving a shift. Older now so wanted to spoil myself. Last fall went with an automatic. Sadly the only one available via Hertz in Belfast was a 4 door. Named it Seamus. Fine car but on the wee roads along the West Coast I was certain I would scratch something some how no matter how careful I was. Would have been far less annoying and stressful with a smaller car. Roundabouts are a breeze once you get the hang of them. Don't use GPS in the states, didn't use it in NI or Eire. From my POV no need. Found signage even on the back roads plentiful and easy to read once you understand kilometers. I did have an old school map of Eire so I could easily look at it before I began my drive. Knew my route and off I'd go. At lunch I'd check the map again to see my actual progress. Do watch out for lorries, sheep, tractors, cows, bicycles, dogs off leash and school children on the back roads. Simply slow down and enjoy the beauty. One change I noticed immediately from 97' to 2013, nearly everyone seems to have wised up and now wear bright orange or lime green reflective vests when they are walking or biking on the back roads. Smart move. The one toll I needed to pay I do so on line. Easy peasy. Proud to say nary a scratch even though Seamus and I drove over the tiny roads of the incredibly-beautiful-thankfully-un-crowded-Gap of Dunloe and along the Dingle Peninsula in November. I would not miss either place for any reason. Even when you round a corner and have the ocean cliff on one side and a gigantic tour bus on the other!!!

We loaded two cars and headed from Dublin to our destination with no waypoints to re-connect en route. Separation we became with a touch of anxiety as this was BCPE (before cell phone era). We eventually met at the destination. Also, from my perspective, too many folks from North America suffer from self-induced boxer bunch up at the thought of driving on the other side of the road. Pay attention, yes, but don't hyperventilate. Share the road with sheep.

If you didn't at least crack a smile at Warren's post, you don't have a pulse.

If you don't like the electronic crap, you can pay the M50 toll at newsstands, pubs, convenience and grocery stores, etc, that have a payzone logo which look like the gizmo in the top left of http://www.payzone.ie. There's one somewhere out at DUB as well.

My Canadian son who now lives in London, UK had these three tips I found very useful when driving in the British Isles on the LHS of the road:

• NEVER rent a car directly at the airport when you've come off a Trans-Atlantic flight jet-lagged.
  • Start reciting: To the left, to the left, to the left, left, left, left.. and keep saying it as you drive along amid challenges.
  • The GPS may not be perfect, but it helps significantly.

Hi, I plan to visit Ireland in April, and we are renting a car and driving.... Can someone give me the basics on handling "tolls"...?? Have seen some of the posts here and I am a bit confused on how to pay the tolls, if we take a road that has a toll..... How do we handle this? Thanks so much! Karen

@Karen in Dallas... We were just there in November. We actually found the toll roads we were on had manned toll booths. We just made sure we watched the signs for which lane to go through & pay the attendant.

Our experience was same as previous poster, went thru the manned booth and paid in cash for toll, I think it was about one or two euros. No problem at least for the two toll roads we used.

Gale and Lynn, thanks for your post! I feel better about the toll roads now, ha!! Thanks!

Except the M50 - the ring road around Dublin - has no toll booths that I can recall.

Karen, if you are in doubt as to which road has manned toll boths, go to the "toll road in Ireland website". As I said, we had manned booths on the toll roads we were on but were not on every toll road.

Karen,
The M50 is the non-booth toll and if you check with your rental car company a lot of times they pick it up, if not you can pay by the website, in shops of newspaper stands. The rest is very easy. Also a lot of rental cars have little arrows in the window saying stay on the left :-)
Have fun, it's a wonderful country to drive in.

Last September my wife and I spent two weeks driving through Ireland in a stick shft rental car which cost about half as much as an automatic. If you driven stickshifts on the right side of the road it takes little time to get used to the left side. By the way I was 74 years old when I rented the car and found out that they may not rent to you after 75. Driving Ireland is the way to go. You have time to go when and where you wish and can get to many sites where a bus tour could not go. We loved our trip to Ireland despite a number of rainy days which is what i expect you should expect in that lovely country. We were able to see most of the major sites from Dublin and throughout the Southwest, West and Northwest. We did not get to Northern Ireland. I guess that is for another time and probably a tour since I may not be able to drive. I Used a company called Exploring Ireland for the first week and had a condo rental in Connemara for the second week.

Get tire insurance. Its existence tells you a lot about driving in Ireland. It turns out that

1. you have to virtually drive off the road to avoid collision with another car traveling in the opposite direction.
2. many roads are lines by stones with nasty sharp edges.
   

Unfortunately, Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe where a car is a must. But personally, I don't think that Ireland is worth the driving hassle.

I stuck to a tight budget for my car rental and picked up a few tips along the way from this forum and others. 1) I priced car rental companies on their Irish websites rather than their American ones so I could see what the total prices were with the basic CDW coverage (this is pretty much a given that you will have to pay it since virtually all credit cards will not cover car rentals in Ireland). The American websites tend to leave that fee out of the total and then you get sticker shock when they spring it on you at the counter. 2) I opted to buy third party Super CDW coverage. Avis, our rental company, would have charged 20 Euros a day for that, which in my case, was a little more than what we were paying for the rental each day. I paid 40 Euros for separate insurance through Questor. I can't comment on how well this insurance works since I didn't need to file a claim. 3) I got manual transmission because my husband can drive stick - that saved us more than half the cost of the rental, given the prices I saw online for automatic. 4) Don't get a GPS - give your companion a local SIM for the smartphone and use a map app. Do this only if your companion has a calm, pleasant voice for navigating.

I've been over twice and leaving again in a week. Both trips I have driven almost the entire trip and will probably do so again on this trip. Things that i found to be true:

1. Right turns are the hardest (for me). We are so used to just looking in one direction when turning right. A right turn in Ireland crosses both lanes.
   
2. Yeah, that "hedge" on the side of the road is actually a stone wall in camo.
3. Sheep and cows have the right of way and like to hang out in the oncoming lane after a 90 degree turn around a rock wall.
4. Few people will tailgate on the back roads but do not be afraid to pull over and let them pass. They will zoom by. Don't be a jerk, allow the line of folks behind to overtake.
5. As stated earlier, very few signs say "Attraction 1 km ahead", instead it is "Here is the attraction we told you nothing about for the previous 10 km, turn RIGHT NOW if you want to see it".
6. Driving in a town or village can be very....random, not dangerous, just seems like a lot of the rules are being made up as we go along.
7. Go Mall
8. If you are headed to the Gaeltacht you should learn the name of your destination in Irish...some signs may have the English on them...many won't.

All that being said...rent a car and drive yourself and don't be afraid to get lost, it is definitely worth the price to have the freedom (just remember to get the SCDW!)