Best place to rent a car outside of Dublin to avoid city driving

See if you can rent a car in a south suburb on the train line such as Monkstown.

I dropped a car at the enterprise in the west of dublin (far west from the city centre) and it was an easy trip (think standard american suburb driving) from the freeway to enterprise on a weekday afternoon. google maps link

We had no trouble picking up at Dublin airport then looping around the city heading to Kilkenny. I researched picking up a car in Kilkenny but was concerned about the availability of automatic transmission.

Best advice is to.not.get off flight and drive right away. I would consider spending those four days at the beginning of.the trip in Dublin then renting a car. We rented at airport and were able to avoid the. city driving but we had just flown in from London.

Dublin airport is the obvious place to collect your vehicle. The rental car fleets there are the largest in the country so it'll be easier to book a vehicle with automatic transmission (the default rental will be a manual - an extra fun factor that you don't need for a first-time driver in LH traffic). Getting from the rental car lot and onto the M50 motorway is pretty straightforward and will keep you well clear of Dublin city traffic as you proceed on your way.
Most here agree that driving immediately after arrival - sleep deprived and jet lagged- is a really bad idea. Better to revise your itinerary a bit to spend the first few days in Dublin and then picking up the car after you're well rested.
Driving in rural Ireland is a joy once the initial butterflies have passed and you get comfortable with driving on the left.
The one guidebook that we rely on for our own driving vacations is "Backroads Ireland" from DK publishing which, as the title implies, has a number of off the beaten path excursions around the Irish countryside as well as interesting little villages that other guides never get around to. You can usually find used copies for just a few dollars on Amazon.
Another alternative would be to catch the express bus from Dublin airport to Galway upon arrival, spend a few nights there resting up and generally getting acclimated, then renting a car for a one-way trip back towards Dublin. A day trip over to the Aran Islands would be a great day trip, and since the ferry company provides transportation to the terminal (for a fee) you'd save a day on the car rental.

Hello from Wisconsin,
Don't drink and drive. Don't drive after an 8 hour flight. Settle into Dublin for a day or two.

All things considered the airport is as easy as you will find for a vehicle for your needs. You don't say how many will be in your travel family. Big cars/vans are more trouble to get around in. The hedges, if you go on truly rural roads, often contain a stone wall so they are not a soft place to rub a vehicle against.

Shop for a vehicle with Autoeurope. It is a good place to get an idea of what is available and what it will cost per day.

wayne iNWI

We spent a day in Dublin to sightsee and also to recover from travel. Then took a taxi to the airport to rent our car. It was easy, easy access to the motorway and stayed out of Dublin traffic. Drove easily through Kilkenny and on to Cashel.

I heartily agree that driving and jet lag are not good companions.
The rural roads are often narrow with the stone fences, we were thankful to have a smaller car, although it held 4 adults relatively comfortably.

Our BnB hosts recommended Cahir Castle- not far from Cashel, which is not in most tour books. It was a delight. Not the scale of the larger castles, but lovely to explore. The Tourist Information centers in Ireland ( & the British Isles) are most helpful!

Enjoy.