Insularity and accessibility: The small island communities of western Ireland

Small offshore islands have a high dependence on external transport linkage s. The standard of service provided by sea ferries and other forms of commu nication is expected to play a crucial role in influencing the islands' pop ulation levels, economy and quality of life. Nine small islands off the wes t coast of Ireland were surveyed in the early 1990s, with particular attent ion paid to service provision and transport facilities. These varied widely , as also did accessibility scores derived from suitable indicators. Detail ed analysis of questionnaire data was conducted to ascertain how travel beh aviour was affected by limited transport to the mainland. Contrary to assum ptions about declining peripheral areas, there is great diversity among the islands with respect to population trends and economic well-being. A secon dary objective therefore was to test to what extent variations in 'populati on stability' and community satisfaction could be explained by accessibilit y and other transport-related factors. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.