Blasket Island: 23,000 apply for summer jobs on remote island off Irish coast

Luke O'Reilly21 January 2020

Two caretaker positions on a remote island off the southwest coast of Ireland have received 23,000 applications.

The roles involve running a cafe and three cottages on Great Blasket Island, which is uninhabited apart from those visiting for short stays.

The successful applicants will stay on the island, which is just across the water from Dingle, Kerry, between April and October.

The job is unpaid and the applicants would live together for six months without many modern comforts.

An advert was posted on social media ten days ago by Dingle couple Alice Hayes and Billy O'Connor.

The couple received applications from as far away as Iran
Google Street View

Ms Hayes told Irish broadcaster RTÉ: "It’s been unbelievable. We were worried we wouldn’t get anyone.

"We had a lot of interest last week but in the last few days it’s been mad.

"We’ve received applications from places like Iran, Argentina, Finland, Mexico, everywhere really.

"Our email is in meltdown and our phones are just pinging constantly."

The couple believe applicants were drawn by the 'off-grid' living
Shutterstock

Her partner, Billy, attributed the applications to people wanting to get out of the rat race and disconnect from daily life.

"I suppose people just want to disconnect from the rush of everyday life and get off the grid. Things are really basic out there," he said.

"There's no electricity. Cooking is done on gas cookers.

"Light is provided by candles, heating is a solid fuel stove.

"There are no creature comforts, no hot showers."

The initial advert said: "A unique position required - looking for long term management of Island Accommodation and Coffee Shop. Couple or two friends.

"1st April 2020 - October 2020 accommodation and food provided."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in