You’ll find the Irish in general somewhat garrulous but friendly, willing to argue over just about antyhing in a generally good-natured way, unless you start comparing the US to Ireland, so don’t do that.
Stick to the Republic Of Ireland, and your Catholicism certainly will not be an issue. I’m Protestant, and had no problems myself in the Republic. People think Northern Ireland is representative of the whole place. Not at all.
But, the Gardai (police) do take potential terrorist activities very seriously. Once when I was over there on business, in Dublin, some American from Massachussetts had apparently paid to have his Cadillac boated over for an extended visit in the Old Country, parked it too close to the hotel and left it for too long, and the Gardai brought the bomb squad in, hauled it off and blew it up.
Every flight I had into Ireland went through customs at Shannon anyway, so I don’t see why you couldn’t arrange an extended layover for your visit to Ennis. One of the principals in the business I was visiting in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, was an Ennis, from Ennis, raised quarter horses. Funny guy, biting wit, never knew when he was putting you on, and he was putting me on quite frequently.
It’s a beautiful country, some parts of Dublin are best avoided by novice tourists though.
If you plan to drive much, I hope you’ve had a little exposure to driving on the left with little or no markings on the roadway itself.
I found that late summer or early fall was the best time to catch warmer weather and sunshine.
That’s about all I can think of, off the top of my head, other than destination stuff, and you sound as if you already know where you would prefer to travel and spent your time there.
I never wanted to say that some people are my grandparents. Well ..you are granny and grampy