Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [636]
* * *
You must carry your driving licence at all times.
Hire
Car hire in Ireland is expensive, so you’re often better off making arrangements in your home country with some sort of package deal. For travel in July and August it’s wise to book well ahead. Most cars are manual; automatic cars are available, but they’re more expensive to hire.
The international hire companies and the major local operators have offices all over Ireland. Nova Car Hire (www.rentacar-ireland.com) acts as an agent for Alamo, Budget, European and National, and offers greatly discounted rates. In the Republic typical weekly high-season hire rates with Nova are around €150 for a small car, €185 for a medium-sized car, and €320 for a five-seater people carrier. In the North, similar cars are marginally more expensive.
When hiring a car, be sure to check whether the price includes collision-damage waiver (CDW), insurance (eg for car theft and windscreen damage), value-added tax (VAT) and unlimited mileage.
If you’re travelling from the Republic into Northern Ireland, it’s important to be sure that your insurance covers journeys to the North. People aged under 21 aren’t allowed to hire a car; for the majority of hire companies, you have to be aged at least 23 and have had a valid driving licence for a minimum of one year. Some companies in the Republic won’t rent to you if you’re aged 74 or over; there’s no upper age limit in the North.
Motorbikes and mopeds are not available for rent in Ireland.
Parking
Ireland is tiny and the Irish love their cars; the numbers just don’t add up and parking is an expensive and difficult nightmare. Parking in towns and cities is either by meter, ‘pay and display’ tickets or disc parking (discs, which rotate to display the time you park your car, are available from newsagencies).
Purchase
It’s more expensive to buy a car in Ireland than in most other European countries. If you do buy a car (or intend to import one from another country), you must pay vehicle registration tax and motor tax, and take out insurance.
Road Rules
Copies of Ireland’s road rules are available from tourist offices. Here are some of the most basic rules:
Drive on the left; overtake to the right.
Safety belts must be worn by the driver and all passengers.
Children aged under 12 aren’t allowed to sit in the front passenger seat.
Motorcyclists and their passengers must wear helmets.
When entering a roundabout, give way to the right.
Speed limits are 120km/h on motorways, 100km/h on national roads, 80km/h on regional and local roads and 50km/h or as signposted in towns.
The legal alcohol limit is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood or 35mg on the breath (roughly two pints of beer an hour for a man, one for a woman). Note: three pints (1½ for a woman) will put you over the limit.
Return to beginning of chapter
HITCHING
Hitching is becoming increasingly less popular in Ireland, even though it’s still pretty easy compared to other European countries. Travellers who decide to hitch should understand that they are taking a small but potentially serious risk, and we don’t recommend it. If you do plan to travel by thumb, remember it’s illegal to hitch on motorways.
Return to beginning of chapter
LOCAL TRANSPORT
Dublin and Belfast have comprehensive local bus networks (Click here), as do some other larger towns. The Dublin Area Rapid Transport (DART;) line runs roughly the length of Dublin’s coastline, while the Luas tram system has two popular lines. Taxis tend to be expensive – for daytime rates, flagfall is €4.10 and fares start at €1.03 per km after that (night-time rates are a bit higher).
Return to beginning of chapter
TOURS
If your time is limited, it might be worth considering an organised tour, though it’s cheaper to see things independently, and Ireland is small enough for you to get to even the most remote places within a few hours. Tours can be booked through travel agencies, tourist offices in the major cities, or directly through the tour companies themselves.
Bus Éireann (