could someone help with internet research---research on ireland and the irish people

It is so difficult to find free access to scholarly articles on the internet-----full articles not abstracts-----one example would be ireland and the irish people. I know JSTOR has developed an ireland collection. However, one has to be connected to a university or another institution to gain access. Sometimes local libraries only provide abstracts. How can an average person gain access to articles on the internet? One has to have a method of access or pay very high prices for one article. I wish the internet were more open.