I have a week to travel in February and I've gone and gotten it in my head that Ireland is where I want to go. The problem is I have absolutely no flexibility with time - it has to be February 14 -21. Am I kidding myself? Is February in Ireland as miserable as everyone keeps telling me? I should note that I generally prefer colder weather, so temps in the 40s and 50s wouldn't really phase me too badly.

I enjoyed Ireland in December last year.
As long as you have warm and wind proof clothes you can enjoy it.
Just be prepared for short days.

John is absolutely right! I'm irish and we have sometimes taken short breaks in Ireland in February. It is not a bad time and you can be lucky with the weather. It is extremely unlikely you will get snow!

Since there are fewer tourists at this time, you sometimes get quite a bit of attention, particularly when outside the major cities and in more remote areas.

What have you got in mind? Car or public transport?

I spent a week in Ireland 30+ years ago. 2 girlfriends & I hired a car and had a great time. The only problem we found was a lot of B&Bs were closed for the winter, but we always managed to find a Pub to stay in.

Yes it was cold & wet, but we were on holidays in Ireland!!

Go & enjoy!

Checked to see if we had any Ireland Trip Reports for February but no such luck; they still may be of interest to your planning though: Ireland Trip Reports

I used to live in Dublin and February can be horrific in Dublin unless yo enjoy freezing cold wet and windy weather. You would be better off with somewhere such as Cyprus or Greece.
If you enjoy some decent pubs then you'll be fine though as with pubs being indoors you'll not be affected and there are many fine pubs in Dublin.

Thanks for the replies.

We'll be renting a car and driving around the country, likely starting in Dublin and leaving out of Shannon.

Wanted to close the loop on this - we ended up taking this trip November 2009.

12 days starting in Dublin, down through Kilkenny, on to Cobh, over to Killarney, up to Cong, over to Belfast and then down to Dublin for our flight out.

We were there during the "1000 year storm" when both Cork and Galway flooded so we had many detours and stressful moments but nonetheless it was a lovely trip and I can't wait to go back in the summer months when there is more daylight.