The Great Blasket Island off the coast of Co Kerry is in need of two people to manage the Island's accommodation and coffee shop from April through October 2020. All rights reserved. That left Birney and Boyle in a precarious situation.

“It’s intense and tough but it’s a very unique position,” Alice Hayes, who placed the advert, told RTE on Tuesday. On January 8, she revealed that she would not be returning to the position in the new year: We made the tough decision not to work on the island for the 2020 season The Great Blasket Island Experience are looking for two fit, enthusiastic people to manage the accommodation and cafe from April-October. Email Alice on info@greatblasketisland.net for more information pic.twitter.com/RJFfrr4QDH. Alicia Hayes, who runs tours to the island and owns the three vacation cottages along with her partner Billy O'Connor, said that she saw a scenario where the island wouldn't open at all. “So you are not completely cut off,” said Hayes. Last year’s caretakers were Lesley Kehoe and Gordon Bond, a couple who quit jobs and demanding commutes in Dublin for what they considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Towards the end of their stint they stopped posting pictures and messages on social media, citing unkind responses they attributed to jealousy or meanness. Blasket dream job turned into COVID nightmare for couple Annie Birney and Eoin Boyle beat more than 50,000 applicants to the role of caretaker on Great Blasket Island before the COVID-19 … While the island's coffee shop may have remained shuttered due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there is still plenty of work to be done.

Government efforts ended on this day in 1999. © Copyright 2020 Irish Studio LLC All rights reserved. The absence of electricity on the island means that everything has to be down by hand or, as Birney describes it, with "elbow grease.". Would you consider living full-time on The Great Blasket Island? However, with COVID-19 bringing Ireland to a standstill, it was now possible that the island wouldn't open at all in 2020. Situated off the Dingle Peninsula, Great Blasket Island is one of the most westerly points in Europe and features spectacular views and rugged landscapes. If a demanding job on a tiny island with no electricity, wifi or hot showers but lots of wind sounds tempting, join the queue. Great Blasket Island, a popular summer destination for daytrippers and holidaymakers, fell under that bracket and closed to all visitors for more than three months. Last modified on Tue 14 Jan 2020 12.12 EST. Think you’re up for the job? Now, Birney and Boyle didn't know if they'd get to stay on the island at all. Kehoe kept followers up to date on her new way of life over on Twitter @island_lesley. “Being on the island was a perfect experience, and any kind of negativity was taking away from it.”, Available for everyone, funded by readers. The comments had affected her, she said. An advert for two caretakers to manage accommodation and a cafe on Great Blasket island, off Ireland’s Atlantic coast, has drawn queries from Alaska to South Africa.

In January, Hayes and O'Connor posted an advertisement for the role of caretaker online and the post went viral, prompting more than 50,000 applications. Visitors walk by the remains of a village on Great Blasket. "Everything was up in the air," Birney told CNN Travel. Let us know in the comments! "When you sit down at the end of the day, it's a lovely feeling," she said. The island, which remains largely uninhabited, does not have electricity or hot running water but is still attracts tourists in the warmer months.

Emigration shrivelled the population and in 1953 the government evacuated the last fulltime residents. Read more: Great Blasket Island “dream job” posting receives more than 24k applications.

The Great Blasket Islands, off the beautiful coast of Co Kerry, were abandoned back in 1954 after a decline in population, along with concerns about the difficulty of reaching the island in the event of an emergency. Birney, however, said that the problems are worth it to live on such a beautiful piece of land. The pair were taken aback by the huge level of interest and had to filter through thousands of applications before arriving at Birney and Boyle's. "We didn't have much hope for the season," she told CNN.

© Copyright 2020 Irish Studio LLC All rights reserved. filled by Irish couple Lesley Kehoe and Gordon Bond. 1st April 2020 - October 2020 accommodation and food provided. “People are very protective of the island life, people who were saying they knew more about the Great Blasket than us, who were accusing us of commercialising it, saying we were going to attract more tourists to the island and ruin it, criticising us for not speaking Irish,” Kehoe told the Irish Times. Great Blasket is part of the Blasket islands, the five other main islands being Beginish, Inishabro, Inishvickillane, Inishtooskert and Tearaght, off the coast of Kerry. The couple had quit their jobs and prepared to move out of their Dublin apartment to take over caretaker duties on the island, including running the island's coffee shop and maintaining the three holiday cottages on the 1,100-acre island. Suddenly, Irish citizens were confined to within a two-kilometer radius of their own home while everything from pubs to hotels and museums to football pitches closed down. Great Blasket Island “dream job” posting receives more than 24k applications, Lucky couple win caretaker job of remote Blasket Island after 45k applied. The Great Blasket Island off the coast of Co Kerry is looking for two people to live and work there full time this year. The job description also includes welcoming visitors to the Island, so ideal candidates must have good people skills, be friendly, approachable and chatty. What was supposed to be a six-month stint on the scenic island was suddenly cast into uncertainty as the Irish Government imposed lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. Read more: Lucky couple win caretaker job of remote Blasket Island after 45k applied, Become a Friend of IrishCentral - help us to continue bringing Ireland to you, Coronavirus live updates: R number in Rep of Ireland between 1.2 and 1.4, The best mythological sites to visit in Ireland, Northern Lights will be visible in Ireland this week, Trump's shameful, unprecedented and unpresidential debate, In the time of Trump, JFK reminds us of how inspirational a president can be, Tír Na nÓg - The legend of Oisín, Niamh and land of eternal youth, Normal People’s Aoife Hinds speaks about experiencing racism in Ireland, Champion Irish dancer murdered in London had “devil’s breath” in his system. The couple thus got the chance to live out the summer of a lifetime, albeit a shortened one, on the stunning Irish island.

Email Alice on info@greatblasketisland.net for more info! Caretaker jobs on the island include free accommodation and food and spectacular views of Ireland… Close-knit communities of Irish speakers eked a living here for centuries, farming, fishing and weaving. Water is boiled in whistling kettles on gas hobs. Caretaker jobs on Great Blasket, Ireland’s most westerly point, draw responses from Alaska to South Africa, Tue 14 Jan 2020 10.16 EST © Copyright 2020 Irish Studio LLC All rights reserved. If you and a friend are looking for a job, The Great Blasket Island has a proposition for you. She did not disclose the wages. Looking for a new job in Ireland? “No day is ever the same.”. ** Job Vacancy ** A unique position required - looking for long term management of Island Accommodation and Coffee Shop. The Great Blasket Island off the coast of Co Kerry is in need of two people to mind the area's accommodation and coffee shop.

"We didn't know where we'd be working and where we'd be living.". An Irish couple who landed the job of a lifetime on a remote Irish island off County Kerry were forced to put their dreams on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Annie Birney and Eoin Boyle beat more than 50,000 applicants to the role of caretaker on Great Blasket Island off the Dingle Peninsula earlier this year and were due to take up the role in April.

Hayes said that they stood out because they sent a handwritten letter along with an attached photo of themselves, something that Hayes and O'Connor thought was "very old school.". pic.twitter.com/KTBP96O9BK, Read More: From the Great Blasket to America - a memoir of the longest surviving islander. The Great Blasket Island off the coast of Co Kerry is in need of two people to manage the Island's accommodation and … A unique position required - looking for long term management of... Read More: On This Day: The Blasket Islands evacuation of 1953. On January 10, the official Twitter page for the Great Blasket Island shared a glimpse of what your new “office” could look like: The office #GreatBlasketIsland pic.twitter.com/vTvvLzr6GV, Read More: Will the Blasket Islands ever be a state park? They must also contend with the horrors of cold showers since there is no running hot water and Boyle humorously told CNN that "some days are easier than others.". Couple or two friends.