Get yourself onto Google Earth to look for suitable spots, buy Dempsey and O'Clery's new 'Where to Find Birds in Ireland' and then get a cheap Ryanair flight, get a hire car and aim your nose to wherever the low is due to/has recently hit.
I've done plenty of trips to Ireland in early autumn the last couple of years -the birds are there for the taking. The worst thing you could do is tag along with a guided group - you need to do some off piste stuff and being shown Choughs and the like are hardly going to put you in prime position. In half a dozen trips early autumn I've found Fea's Petrel, Baird's Sand, a couple of Pec Sands and Buff-Bs, two AGPs together, Kumlien's Gull, Surf Scoter and Ring-billed Gull... it is that easy, trust me.
I've tended to concentrate on Kerry but Clare, Cork, Mayo and Donegal would all be worth a pop. I've tended to leave Wexford as that's where the birding God lives.
Cheers and good birding
Rich
