Laura,

The possibillities are almost endless. You need to be a bit more specific as to how long you'll be there will you be willing to drive yourself (if you or your sister can drive a standard transmission you can get a great price on a rental- automatics are a bit pricey).

I found driving on the other side of the road to not be that much of a challenge after just a short bit of time. you get used to it.

I went the self-catering cottage route on my trip. We rented a 4 bedroom 2 story house near Cork and drove to and from the places we wanted to see in the area.

We spent our last two nights in a hotel near the Dublin airport- very inexpensive and the bus system is great.

B&B's are another way to go for accomadations. Depending on the time of year you can go without reservations and usually find something. With the economic downturn hitting Ireland so hard it's hard to say what effect it wil have on tourism.

Basically the only lighthouse that is open for climbing on a regular basis in Ireland is Hook Head. It is well worth going to and there are several other lighthouses you can see on the way to or from Hook Head- of course depending on which direction you come from. The restaurant at teh lighthouse has very good food and it wasn't too expensive- although expect food costs to be a bit on the high side again with the downturn this may be altered a bit as well.

The Ring of Kerry is a great thing to do- it has the scenery, culture (some towns that have Gaelic as the main language) and some lighthouses as well.

Some people reccomend if you are driving yourself that you fly into say Shannon and out of Dublin- or the reverse- so you don't do any backtracking.

Airlines are running great rates to Ireland and at this point some of the fares last through June and if things don't pick up they may last longer.

Blarney has the Castle, the Blarney Stone and the Mills as well. The grounds of Blarney Castle are very nice. Powerscourt outside of Dublin has beautiful gardens and other attractions.

Dublin has Trinity College- with the Book Of Kells among other attractions. There is also Dublin Castle, the Guinness Brewery and many other fine things to do in Dublin.

I did get to see a number of Lighthouses but my trip was with others that were not interested in seeing every lighthouse so it was a bit hit and miss for lighthouses.

I personally would reccomend skipping Northern Ireland at this point- things may settle down again quickly but there are enough things to do in Ireland that you won't miss going north.

Dennis