here's a brief selection. not all of the best, but there are somewhere between two and three hundred, so it'll take me a while to sort em out. if you are ever leaving the country, tell your bank/cc company ahead of time... especially if you'll be arriving at your destination at 2am eastern time, and will buy two things in the airport before you go to pick up your rental car, at which point you'll discover your card has been locked to prevent fraud and you have extreme difficulty getting ahold of your bank and the kiosk is out of intrntl calling cards so it costs you a euro per minute, and you're on hold for an hour.... trip was all uphill from there though. really great. excellent riding, though access-wise, it's sort of like here in the 80's. there's technically a ban on it in most places, but.... the mountains are much bigger than you would expect. they mostly start at or near sea level, so a 2500 ft mtn is a 2400 ft climb to the top. the terrain is very different. they have blanket bogs that cover some of the mountains. the forestry there is constantly being rotated(felling). lots of rough, rocky tracks. most of the purpose built singletrack is steep and tight/twisty. really fun stuff. there is riding everywhere. many they have waymarked long distance hiking routes, of which many sections are rideable and really fun. there are 'green roads', which are basically anything from an abandoned road/right of way to a dirt/gravel road. loads of riding and really quick riders in the dublin/wicklow mtns. despite the numbers, it's a really tight knit bunch of riders there. very friendly and welcoming. it's very club based too. in the republic, it seems most riders have joined or formed clubs, and have club races/rides on a very regular basis. i rode along in a two club race south of dublin on tuesday, and i think something like 30 people showed up for it. it was just a really informal, see how you're doing type thing, and they do it every week i think. i had been drinking till 5 am that morning though, and had three hours sleep. i fell off the bike multiple times, and my legs turned to jello on the first lap. had a blast though. i would recommend an mtb holiday there to anyone.
bit windy atop the sleive league.