One of the year's most coveted jobs vacancies is currently being advertised. Ireland's Great Blasket Island, the most westerly island in Europe, is looking for a couple or pair of friends to manage its guest houses and coffee shop between April and October.
The post requires two people, ideally a couple or friends, to manage a coffee shop and accommodation on the island from 1 April 2021 until 1 October 2021. Last year, couple Annie Birney and Eoin Boyle beat more than 24,000 applicants from all over the world to land the coveted role. Despite not having electricity, WiFi or hot showers, the island is a popular tourist spot for peole looking for a complete off-grid experience.
"It's candles, fires, wildlife, stars, nature. It's beautiful," owner Alice Hayes told RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland last year.
Great Blasket, off the coast of Dingle in County Kerry is as remote as you can get. It's Europe's most westerly island and is wild, rugged and almost poetic in its dramatic beauty. The last permanent residents left around 1953 after a sharp decline in population, along with concerns about regular access to the island. It remains largely uninhabited now, apart from a few white stone cottages that are open to tourists during high season.
The island's new caretakers will be required to look after three stone cottages, turning them over and getting them ready for new arrivals. They'll also have to manage the coffee shop, opening it in the morning and serving tea and coffee to the guests, day-trippers and shepherds who arrive by boat. Coffee is made on a gas hob, connected to gas canisters at the back of the shop.
"It's the same in the accommodation," Alice explained. "You can cook on the gas hobs and we put our little whistling kettles on top so we know that the water is boiling that way." Ideal candidates must have good people skills and some level of fitness. They also need to be adaptable. According to Alice, "One hundred and one things can go wrong on the island, no day is ever the same – so just being able to get to grasps with that [is important]."
You also need to be able to cope with cold showers and essentially no electricity. Though Alice explained that there is one charging port, powered by a wind turbine that generates enough energy to charge one device, "so you're not completely shut off from the mainland."
Sound like you? Applications opened on Saturday and you can apply here. Closing date for applications is Friday, January 22, 2021. This year, there's a cap on the number of applications due to the "phenomenal number" of replies received last year but if you miss out there will be future positions available, so keep an eye on the Great Blasket Island social pages for updates. For more information, see here.
This article was first published on January 16, 2020 and updated on January 18, 2021.
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