We had a great time in Dublin and Malachy's home was the center of that portion of our trip. The house was perfect: clean, well-kept and well-appointed. A couple of nights, we cooked a full meal and enjoyed the roof-deck. The house is located a mere 10-15 minute walk from the touristic sites, but quiet and with a feeling of really living in Dublin. If you're meeting tour busses for day trips, they will likely be 15 minute's walk north of Temple Bar / Grafton. That happens to be about 10 minutes east of Malachy's place--so you're walking a little bit to get anywhere in the city anyway. There are some excellent pubs in the area, not the least of which is the Brazen Head (5 minutes south), and Cobblestones and Hughes both have live music sessions on most nights.
For reference, we stayed one night at a great hotel in Grafton Street prior to the house being available--it was noisy from the street and the floors below until the bars close. Most hotels "in the city center" have this challenge--fun for a night, but would not recommend for a week.
Malachy is a conscientious host, which began even before our stay. I asked a question about receiving a package through the mail as we’d left some clothing at a hotel earlier in our stay. It ended up that Malachy was in that town visiting family and offered to pick it up and bring it to Dublin for us! When he met me to check in, he went over all the systems of the house to be sure I knew how things worked. He also shared some local and off-the-radar places to visit including St. Michan’s crypts (very close to the house), and taking the city bus out to Enniskerry and the Powerscourt Gardens—both were fantastic! We also took a daytrip out to Howth, which we heartily recommend (go for a hike with Shane’s Hikes, and then have the excellent local seafood at East / formerly King Sitric’s).