Need to bring Euros from US to Ireland

I'd suggest bringing a debit card tied to your checking account, and using ATMs in Ireland as needed. Here's a lot of good info on using ATMs in Europe. It's always worked for me.

Can you get local currency within the bank instead of using the ATM?

Getting Euros from an ATM upon arrival is the least expensive way to get local currency. If you wait until arrival to get Euros, there is the inconvenience of having to find a machine, waiting to access it, the stress of hoping it works (they do occasionally malfunction and / or run out of currancy), and doing all that while somewhat jet lagged. Some think, however, it's better to have some Euros in hand before arrival, and get two or three hundred Euros beforehand from their local bank. It will cost a little more, but the amount it cost to have money in hand when arriving is money well spent, and the cost (relative to the overall cost of the trip) is next to nothing.

It's really just a matter of preference. No matter what you do, check with your bank and credit card companues to see if you need to put a travel alert on your account(s). They may see a foreign transaction, suspect fraud, and shut down access to your credit and ATM cards. Some banks require it and some don't.

I cant even get dollars from inside my bank here in the US, using my debit card. They point me to the ATM in the drive-thru.

I was on the RS Best of Ireland in 14 Days tour that ran from 24 July in Dublin to 6 August in Belfast. I arrived on 21 July and spent 3 nights in a different hotel before the tour started.

I tap, tap, tapped my way all across Ireland (€) and Northern Ireland (£). I tapped for taxi fare, tourist sites, meals, souvenirs, just about anything you can imagine. The only place that I didn't tap was for my preliminary hotel bill. They just charged it to the credit card I gave them when I made the reservation.

I had very few Euros leftover from 2019. With all the tapping, I didn't get any more until Kinsale and then it was less than a hundred. I got the Euros at a bank where I could go inside to withdraw cash from a multipurpose ATM machine using my debit card. I tried to use them all up but came home with 27 left. I mostly used the cash to leave something for the room cleaners, to pay for laundry service or to do a small round up tip for the cost of a meal that I tapped for.

I saw many exterior ATMs that people were using. Most said that they were no fee machines. I prefer going inside where someone can help. I have gotten Euros in the airport in the past with no bad side-effects.

Based on my experience and especially if your credit card is a tap card, I'd say there's no need to get hundreds of Euros.

I do hope that you have more than one credit card with different numbers that you can use if something weird happens. The same goes for debit cards.

I belong to two different credit unions, one in Tucson and one in Seattle. I went through the same notification procedures for credit and debit cards for both. I had no problems with the Seattle credit card, but about halfway along in my trip (I went on to Wales for 2.5 weeks after the RS tour was over) I got a call about the Tucson one from their fraud line. They had honored the card, but were suspicious about the charges.

I verified all and told them how miffed I was that they were bothering me -- especially since I'd used my debit card with them to get both the € and the £ cash. Honestly, couldn't they have simply checked the records and seen that I was where I said I would be?

May your trip be 100% craic! 😉