Thanks burns and outlander, I definitely won't miss Newgrange!
I have a friend here in Australia who grew up in Dublin and he was very doomsday-ish about going in September/October (which we have changed to), but I'm feeling oK about. Rain is a given, but hopefully we get a few nice days, and if not, oh well, i'm already planning my Peru trip for 2015 :P either way it'll still be green, beautiful, full of lovely people, and so worth the visit. :)