traveling by train or bus

Hi There, Touring in Ireland by public transport is possible, but requires fore thought and planning... If you look at the railway network of Ireland you'll see that it is mainly focused on providing connections between Dublin and the main provincial cities and towns, while the bus services are focused on providing connectivity between the provincial towns. That being case the best way to take advantage of their services is to base oneself in one or two of the main provincial towns and then make day trips using the local bus services to visit the nearby attractions. That being the case, you should be able to use the rail service to get you to Cork, Kilkenny or Killarney and then take the bus from there. Here are the links for the rail and bus services.