Is seeing Ireland from base in Dublin do-able

You could do this, but you would be spending a LOT of time on a tour bus. I think just the train to Killarney (for Ring of Kerry) is a four hour trip. I did three weeks by bus/train several years ago because at the time I couldn't afford the car rental on my own. But, I did do Scotland on my own and rented a car. Do not worry about driving on the left, you will get used to it quite quickly. Rent the car if you can. If you can't, or just don't want to, then I would suggest using Dublin, Killarney, and Galway as bases to see the country. From Dublin you can do day trips to see Newgrange, Glendalough, and others, and spend a couple of days just seeing Dublin. From Killarney there is the Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, the national park and Gap of Dunloe and other places that can be done by guided day trips. From Galway you can do the Cliffs of Moher/Burren area, Aran Island, and Connemara region all as day trips then return to Dublin to fly home or take the train to Belfast and do a day trip up to the Giant's Causeway from there and fly home from Belfast. Try this web site for even more information on just Ireland http://irelandyes.com/

Would you consider 2 bases? If so, I would do Dublin and then somewhere on the west coast like killarney or Kinsale or Dingle. That would save you a lot of time on buses/trains and would still allow you to have a home base as opposed to changing cities every night

If it was me, I'd get really tired of "commuting" to the different locations outside of Dublin. If you don't want to rent a car, you could use public transport and set your own itinerary, staying 2 or 3 nights per destination, without having to join a multi-day bus tour.

Staying in Dublin is much more expensive than staying elsewhere. I would spend 2 or 3 nights in a place and explore there before moving on. Outside of Dublin, the driving is not terrible, especially if you get an automatic. Staying in B&Bs in Ireland is a very cost-effective way to go and has the added benefit of letting you get to know and spend time with natives, which is a big part of the charm of Ireland, at least to me. You can easily find excellent B&Bs for less than $100 a night, while you would spend twice that in Dublin.

Since you are planning to go next year you would have time to search for a B&B or an apt. in Dublin for your 2 week stay. It may be cheaper than staying in a hotel. I have seen a few suggestions for each on this forum.

Would you be interested in taking a 2-3 (or longer) day overnight tour out of Dublin that goes to the places you want to see? I have seen several of these offered on discoverireland.ie If you haven't already done so check trip advisor as they have suggestions for short 2-3 day tours out of Dublin to iconic sites. I have seen coach and train tours offered. Then you could stay in Dublin and take some of the day tours that are closer to Dublin.

I agree with other posters and would encourage you to consider traveling to different cities and use them as a home base for a few days before moving on to the next point of interest. If following a strict budget is a goal you might find you spend more on the accommodations in Dublin combined with the daily tours than if you traveled to smaller cities and explored the area from there.

I traveled around by public transportation and found it relatively comfortable and very reliable. You can buy tickets on the buses or purchase a bus pass if you think it would be more cost effective (I determined it would not be for me since I would be moving every 2-3 days and the bus tickets average about 20€). If you take the train buy your tickets ahead of time or, if you want flexibility, buy at the station the day of travel but I'd recommend you budget for a 100% increase of what you see online (my 30€ ticket online the week before jumped to 70€ at the station the day of travel ).

If you are traveling with another person you may want to consider renting a car and driving. I personally didn't rent a car because I hate driving but if I were to go back to Ireland I'd prefer to travel with friends and drive because you can see so much away from the tourist circuit. Driving would give you the ability to stop and see what you want and create your own time schedule. Driving on the left can be daunting at first but you adapt relatively quickly (I used to live and drive in a different left hand driving country - bonus points for Ireland that all but the most rural signs in the Western part of the country are in English!)

If you're looking to save money by preparing your own meals you could look at AirBnB for places which allow you to use the kitchen. Or find guesthouses with breakfast included and pick up food at the grocery store each day. I ate the soup of the day at restaurants or pubs every day which was 4-5€ depending on where I was.

Just a little plug for Rick's Ireland tours, even though I also love independent travel and drove myself around Ireland on my first visit. My thinking is that a fully guided tour provides an efficiency of organization and transportation with well-vetted guides and a group of 24-28 usually like-minded people. On the other hand, if you take very many separate, organized bus or van excursions, it still means sticking to someone else's schedule and still means being "thrown in" with other travelers, but in a more random way.

I agree, the prices for rooms in Dublin were way way higher than those in west Ireland where we travelled. You did not mention who old you are but if you drive I suggest you try driving. We got a four door small automatic from Hertz that ws perfect. It actually was a "city" car but it handled all the roads and mountain passes out west with no issues. I had tough time with a midsize car in Scotland so I went as small as possible and it worked out great. Only thing is you will need a four door if there are two of you as the city car had no real trunk space. We got the car at the airport and never drove in Dublin city center. I then hired a private tour for the ring of Kerry which was fantastic. Consider driving if you are at all confident in your driving skills, get a tiny automatic, and hire a private tour for the Ring of Kerry or the Dingle peninsula tour...we loved it. We did B&B so cant address your self catering question, aside from Dublin out in west Ireland with breakfast included we paid only 70-90 a night at most! We loved Ireland.