[tippben]

Willow could be great. You could weave a living two dimensional hedge in different bark colours for winter interest, as long as you prune regularly, and it's not near your house, drains etc.

Pleached evergreen plants are available either as 6' standards with a panel above that, or as a flat panel 6'x3'. Photinia, Ligustrum, etc. The main supplier is Europlants, with an office in London, who source the plants from the nurseries in Pistoa in Italy. They will be able to tell you which retailers in Ireland they supply. You can then get on to one of them and place an order. A quick fix, but not cheap.

[Good guy]

A 6 foot fence along my northern boundary is well-clothed in plants at this stage (10 years) so that the fence is well nigh invisible, even in winter. Planting includes honeysuckle, clematis, pyracantha, rosa rugosa, rhododendron, purple-leaved elder (stunning at the moment). These all grow in a bed about three feet wide and don't require much care other than some pruning.

The mixture of evergreen and deciduous, flowering and fruiting, means lots of changing interest through the year. And the birds and the bees love it!