Ireland is wonderful and if you are prepared to drive yourself there really isn't any need to do a tour. Buy a good guide book - DK Eyewitness Ireland is a good place to start as t has lots of pictures, decent desacriptoions and reasonable maps. It also covers lots of off th beaten track places not covered by the other guide books. If thinking of next year, you have plenty of time to think about where you want to go, do and see. There is so much history you can discover.
Do you know where your husbands's family came from? Somewhere you might want to include in whatever itinerary you decide on is the Ulster American Folk Park in Northern Ireland.
http://nmni.com/uafp
You can find our pictures here. This is a fascinating place as it traces the history of some of the families who emigrated from Ulster to America. Their houses have been relocated here (or else reconstructed buildigns from America.) you can find out what conditions were like in Ireland, experience what it would have been like on the ships crossing the Atlantic and the problems facing the settlers in a new country. Allow yourselves plenty of time and make a point of talking to teh costumed interpreters who are a wealth of information.
Another interesting place is the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life at Castlebar in County Mayo.
http://www.museum.ie/Country-Life
This looks at the traditional way of life in Ireland since the C19th and has a series of videos taken in the 1950s showing many of the customs and folk lore that were rapidly disappearing. Again it is easy to spend several hours here.
You certainly don't need to sign up to a tour like Rick Steves which is eye wateringly expensive for what is on offer. The Driftwood itinerary looks pretty intensive and I do wonder how long you will actually have at the different places. Neither of them include some of my favourite places - the neolithic toms of Newgrange to teh north of Dublin or the lovley early Christian site of Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains.
Sometimes more can be less as you see an awful lot through the window without actually experiencing it... Ireland is a place to savour and take slowly. You need time to stop and state, talk to the locals and enjoy the Craik in the local bars....
Take ownership and plan your own itinerary. Base yourself for at least 2-3 nights in a place - you don't want to be packing and unpacking everyday. Allow plenty of time for driving - it can be slow in Oreland and be prepared to stop when something catches your eye. you will begin to discover the true essence of Ireland.
Remember that Ireland (and the UK) is not in the Schengen area. 
