8 Nights in Ireland with small kids

Since you're flying in and out of Dublin, and you have small children, I would suggest staying in Dublin for the week. You can spend a few days focusing on Dublin and sprinkle in day trips to sites outside of the city. Another benefit of this approach would be that it would limit the amount of driving you would need to do, which is nice when you have young ones.

I'd second the recommendation for staying in or around Dublin. You can see the city and do day trips from there. Check the rates you can get for a cottage or apartment in the suburbs surrounding Dublin, or if that's too expensive, you may want to head down to Wexford. We spent a week in a cottage on the west coast and a few days in Dublin this summer with our 2 kids, ages 7 and 3.

Having an apartment or cottage with little ones can be a huge help over staying in a B&B, and will cost less. You'll have a full kitchen, so you can keep lots of snacks and juice there and cook your meals. You can also put the little ones to bed early and not have to stay with them in a quiet, dark room.

If you want to split up your stay and go to the west of Ireland for a few nights, Galway is only 3.5 hours by car from Dublin and the roads are very good.

selfcatering.ie is a good site picking accommodation, book your car and accommodation early as Christmas is busy in ireland

Be sure to visit:

http://www.visitdublin.com/

before you leave. They also have a very nice office in Dublin that works sort of like the Auto Club, where you can choose to have them help you get info, or even book a bus trip for a day outside of Dublin.

Definitely self-cater. It gives you a lot more flexibility with food, naps etc

and don't forget to visit the zoo in Dublin!