I was living in Tralee, Co. Kerry, and that was a bit far away to do Dublin in a single day. I used to go down to Cork on Friday nights, stay with friends, and we were leaving from there to Dublin early in the morning. There are more trains running between Cork and Dublin that between Tralee and Dublin, so that was also an advantage.

The irish trains are a riot :)) . I have never before found a train where you can buy chips (french fries) at the cafeteria. The only missing thing was Guinness on draft.

Heuston Station has been renovated during the last years. They were doing some work on the rails last May, and when we came back from Limerick, they put up on buses from Naas on, and we arrived on time to Heuston.

Regarding accomodations, I looked thru the Ireland Tourist Office website. We got a nice B&B in North Dublin, just 15 minutes from the center by bus, and on our return we were lucky to find an offer from the Jury´s Towers in Ballsbridge. Ballsbridge is a great georgian part of the town, and we could walk to Stephen´s Green in 10, 15 minutes. The price was 120 IEP per night, and it included a light continental breakfast on their Library. Lots of fresh juices, croissants, jams and soda bread. We didn´t miss the irish breakfast at all.

Check this : http://www.ireland.travel.ie/

Kind regards, Covadonga in Bilbao (Spain)