Positives:
*Richard & Bairbre were helpful in printing our Covid test results since the online method we were trying to use wasn't working.
*In addition, there was good, timely communication from them to our few inquiries after booking. When the wifi didn't work initially, Bairbre came over and sorted it out.
Negatives:
Unfortunately, the accommodation was extremely dirty, so much so that it greatly affected the quality of our stay and was very upsetting to say the least as it was the last night of our otherwise sublime Irish holiday. Apparently, the owners had just returned from being on holiday so they didn't clean the accommodation themselves. The person who cleaned did an absolutely dreadful job of cleaning. We took photos and notes as we were so upset. We had traveled a very long journey that day and were expecting a clean, peaceful stay. Among the things that were not clean:
*Both bathrooms were filthy. Neither sink's surfaces were clean so we could not put anything on the sinks. The taps were not clean; the drain caps were not clean. The floors of both bathrooms--including the shower floor-- were utterly filthy. Toilet tank tops were not wiped clean. There was an empty toilet paper tube residing on one of the bathroom's floors next to the toilet as well as a piece of plastic on the floor, more evidence of an utter lack of cleaning.
*The glass tabletop in the living room was terribly dirty and streaked.
*The fuzzy headboard on our bed had loads of weird things stuck to it. These bits should have been vacuumed and/or scrubbed out.
We have stayed in dozens of lovely self-catering places in our 25 years of traveling, many of them in Ireland. This was the only dirty, disappointing accommodation. Moreover, in a time of a global pandemic, owners should not be casual about their cleaning, and if they entrust cleaning to others, every single cleaning should be closely inspected.
Finally, we did not tell the owners about the lack of cleanliness as we were concerned about their reaction and didn't want to be gaslit when told about problems. Moreover, as they just returned from their holiday and didn't bother to inspect the "cleaning" their agent had done from them, we figured it was a lost cause. In addition, as it was New Year's Day and already fairly late in the day, the chance of our finding alternative accommodation was scant. If it had not been a holiday we would have left immediately.