Wal Mart type stores near Dublin

Tesco is what you are looking for. There are 43 Tesco stores in Dublin, and probably some around where you will be. There is a store locator on their website, www.tesco.com. If you know your route to Kilkenny, you can follow it on the map and check the towns along the way to see if they have one there.

If you find that www.tesco.com just shows you stores in the UK, try www.tesco.ie and use the storefinder there. For that kind of thing you will probably need a Tesco Extra store, and certainly not the Tesco Express branches that seem to be everywhere these days. Toys and a wide range of other products can also be found at Argos. This is another huge UK company that has a lot of stores in Ireland. You view their catalogue in the shop, order and pay for the goods and wait while they are brought down from the warehouse. If you pick one of their Argos Extra stores I'd guess you would have much more choice than at Tesco. It's www.argos.ie. Also take a look at http://www.mothercare.ie/

This is a totally random piece of information but I happen to know there's an Argos in Swords which is the closest town to airport in Dublin. In fact there are a bunch of large retailers in Swords which is <5km from Dublin airport. There's a shopping center called Pavillion where the Argos is and another called Airside that has large retailers like Halfords (kind of like Best Buy?) and some large retailers like Home Store and More. If you can find what you want at one of these shopping areas you can't get closer than that to the Dublin airport. You just follow the signs to Swords from the first round about as you leave the airport. Good luck,
=Tod

You could also try Asda; they're a big chain affiliated with Walmart, I believe. Alternatively, maybe bring one with you and leave it behind when you go home?

Ask for a 'travel cot'. You might try searching amazon.co.uk to see some of the popular brands/types. If not too expensive, maybe one could be ordered and shipped to your accommodation in Kilkenny.

Interesting question. What is a"Wal-mart type store"? Ireland has a national health plan of sorts combined with the availability of private insurance with tax relief assistance. Irish residents along with EU and Swiss are covered by the Irish public health plan. I should also add that Irish National Employment Rights Authority requires that "A part-time employee shall not be treated less favourably than a comparable full time employee in respect of any condition of employment."

I think the WalMart type means lots of stuff that's inexpensive, not how they pay sick benefits. It's going to have to be Tesco, M&S, Aldi, or Lidl and I've never bought anything but groceries at the last two and have no feel for them. The Sainsburys, Morrisons, and Asdas might not even exist exceept in Northern Ireland.. One way to stab the problem is fill google maps with the ROI and type in 'Tesco" and watch the dots pop up. I'm not sure how to sort out the little express stores, however.

The Tesco store locator does delineate between Express and Extra stores. You put in the town you are interested in, and the map populates with stores. Just go along your route and check out towns along the way. (I, too, was thrown at first by the reference to health care and the rest of what Edgar said. I couldn't figure out what that had to do with buying a travel crib.)

Thanks for the advice everyone.
Yes, by Wal-Mart type store, I just meant a big box store that would sell baby supplies. I know that these types of stores aren't as plentiful in Europe as they are in the US.

Tara did you ask at places you are staying, many would have that sort of a thing on request.. just a thought.

Ah, so it's a travel cot! I thought it was something else. Knowing that, I would try Argos first - in fact I can see they have 8 different ones to choose from and you can check the stock at any branch in Ireland, and reserve for up to 24 hours. A Tesco Extra might have them, but even if they do I'd be surprised if they have many different ones to choose from.

Here you go, it seems like you can actually hire them out at Dublin airport: http://www.thestorkexchange.ie/Hire/index.aspx

Wow, Jim. That's a great resource! Thanks for posting. I love that the Exersaucer is called a play station. Gotta be careful about not confusing that with the Sony version--ha ha!

Wow that stork site is a great idea, I never would have thought to look for something like that. Who knew those types of services existed? Looks like I have some decisions to make. Thanks everyone.