small car small roads in Ireland with 6foot 8inch tall husband

What kind of advice are you looking for? Most of the roads you will probably be on will be like our two-lane highways. You might also encounter some motorway stretches (like our interstates) around Dublin. Only the really rural roads are narrow, and they sometimes have walls on either side. You won't encounter those once you leave the very western part of the country, though.

I am driving in and around Limerick to cork and dingle pennisula
as well to waterford and dublin

I'm sorry I don't see the correlation between the tall husband and the narrow roads. What is the concern?

" What is the concern?" Maybe it's that a 6'8" guy in a Ford Focus is going to have to lean his head out the window the whole time. :) :)

I don't think all the people of Ireland are 5 ft 6 inches. Surely there are a couple of very tall Irish men who drive small cars and maybe even on small roads every day.

Odds are you don't have a Focus booked, just a car of that class. However, they sell the scoundrels in the U S .......

I still don't understand what kind of advice you are looking for.

if the rental car they give us is too small, how hard will it be to exchange it? we rented thru hertz at shannon airport

I'm not sure how they compare but the Ford Focus you will have in Ireland is different from the Focus here in the US. Call Hertz and ask them, you made need to step up to a larger car.

It shouldn't be difficult to change it. Once you get to the car and try it out, if it won't work for you, just take the next size of car that they have available. My sister's family booked a car once and decided, once they saw it, that it would not hold their family of five and luggage. Quick change of paperwork and they were on their way.

Actually, the two Focuses are about the same. Earlier, there where differences in the door/hatch configuration but starting last year Ford only has a global version. The only thing I ever noticed in the right-hand drive bunch was that the steering wheel was an inch or so off center from the driver's seat - - resulting in a twisted back until you somehow adjusted to it.