The hostel system is fantastic in Ireland, especially for bike tourers with tents. The reason being, a lot of the hostels book up in advance for the inside rooms, but many of them allow camping in the yards. So a bike tourer, who can't really make reservations because you don't know in advance where you're going to be more than 24 hours from now, can often get a place to stay at a hostel that is otherwise full.

There are three hostel associations in Ireland: All 3 have pamphlets you can pick that list their locations. The one we used more was the IHH - The Independent Holiday Hostels - located at http://www.hostels-ireland.com/ They have over a hundred hostels, and we found them all to be clean, wonderful places with the most fantastic staff. There is no fee to join, and tenting is about half the price of staying inside.

There is also the IHO - The Independent Hostel Owners - some of the same hostels from the IHH are listed, but some are different. These hostels tended to be a little more run down and not as clean as the IHH, but if it was the only game in town, we stayed there as well. I don't have a web address for them, but they also have brochures when you get to Ireland.

Third, we never used the Youth Hostel Association, but here is their link: http://www.anoige.ie/
There is a fee to join, and if you stay there without joining, rates are higher.

As for cost, if you camp at hostels, buy groceries and cook at the hostel (ie, don't eat out all the time), you can get by on $50 a day, but that's pushing it. Main reason is that the Euro and the English Pound are both doing so well against the Amerian dollar...our buck doesn't go that far.

BTW, when I was there last summer, we also took 6 weeks and planned to circle the entire island..both NI and the Republic. We actually ran out of time and had to start zig-zagging thru the center of the country towards the end, going from castle-to-castle, in order to complete our circle in time and get back to Shannon for our return flight.

Have fun on your trip,
Cheryl