4.2 Women have their say: On recycling facilities

Woman, aged 61-70:
"The recycling facilities near me are not adequate"

Married woman, aged 51-60:
"Need a recycling facility for paper and old clothes"

Married woman, aged 61-70:
"Not adequate - glass but no paper"

Woman, aged 51-60:
"There are no recycling facilities near me"

4.3 Transport

The Pie Chart in Figure 3 graphically illustrates the percentage of participants who hold a driving licence and are currently using it - at 67%, this reflects the necessary nature of having private transport in Inishowen.  However, 1 in 3 women are not driving and they are therefore reliant on public transport, taxis or lifts to get anywhere.  Having already outlined the distances involved in getting to many day-to-day destinations (Tables 8-12) it is evident that this can create huge problems, especially where lack of money adds to the restrictions.

Public transport in Inishowen is infrequent and inadequate for the needs of the area, making car ownership a necessity for most families.  The lack of a family car contributes hugely to isolation and social exclusion in Inishowen.  Local research carried out recently has highlighted that even access to up-to-date timetables is hard to obtain (Kelly 2002, Unpublished Dissertation).  Where no bus shelters existed, the timetables could not be displayed and Kelly reports that those she had included in her study 'could only be obtained from one small shop in the town of Carndonagh, which [had] just closed down' (p.22).

The interactive Pie Chart in Figure 4 shows the percentages of women driving who have access to a car "Always", "Sometimes", "Seldom" or "Never".   Of those with no license, twenty percent never have access to a car or someone to drive them where they need to go, while a further sixteen per cent seldom have this advantage.  Even where women do have a driving licence and do drive, twenty percent of them have access only sometimes or seldom.  Of those who do have a licence but don't drive, forty per cent never have access to a car - only twenty per cent always have this access when required.