Achill Island in County Mayo is the largest island off the Irish mainland. Early monastic settlements are believed to have been established on Achill around 450 AD. The island is 87 per cent peat bog.
Achill is attached to the mainland by bridge at Achill Sound and so it is possible to drive onto the island. Other centres of population include the villages of Keel, Doagh, Doeega and Dugort. While a number of attempts at setting up small industrial units on the island have been made, the economy of the island is largely dependent on tourism. Agriculture plays a small role but the bog means that it is limited. In the past, fishing played a larger role but this aspect of the economy is small now. At one stage, the island was known for its shark fishing. In particular, Basking shark was fished for it's liver oil. There was a big spurt of growth in tourism in the 1960s and 1970s before which life was tough and difficult on the island. Since that hayday, the common perception is that tourism has been slowly declining.
The artist Paul Henry stayed on the island for a number of years in the early 1900s and some of his most famous paintings are of the dramatic landscape of the island. The Nobel Prize winning author, Heinrich Böll, also stayed on the island (and his descendants still visit) and wrote of his experience in his Irish Journal.
While much contentious development has taken place on the island over the last 40 years or so, the island retains some strikingly beauty. Keem bay/beach, while small, is arguably one of the most beautiful on the Irish west coast. The Atlantic drive (along the South/West of the Island) has some dramaticly beautiful views.