Fed up with your job? Application launched to find two people to take care of remote coffee shop - 'all food and board is included in the position on top of your wage’

The job – 2026 Great Blasket Island Caretaker’s Job Application – has been advertised in the hope of finding a suitable couple for the Great Blasket Island coffee shop and overnight accommodation for the 2026 season.

Information is offered to would-be applicants via a series of Questions and Answers about the role.

The answers reveal that ‘the caretakers role is to manage the coffee shop and 3 holiday cottages on the Great Blasket Island’ and involves ‘meeting and greeting overnight guests, cleaning and painting three holiday cottages, serving tea and coffee and snacks to day visitors from the coffee shop and ensuring the every day to day runnings are being met’.

‘We are looking for hardworking, responsible and trustworthy duo that have great people skills and initiative. Please be aware this is not a holiday job. The season can get VERY busy and you will be on your feet for most of the day,’ adds the response.

More information about the role is given via question – What are the day to day runnings?

The previous postholder’s said: ‘Please note the Island can get VERY busy.

‘This is an intense positions and caretakers must acknowldge that they are on an Island with very little resources.

‘A general day would be:

Ensuring coffee shop and public toilet building are prepped and set up for opening.

Guests check out @ 10 am. Once checked out you must proceed with full clean of the houses and get them ready for new arrivals. This should take approx. 3 hours.

Coffee shop open, serving teas and coffee to day visitors throughout the day.

Guests check in – this time varies depending on tides.

Coffee shops closed approx 5 pm.

Clean, check stock and set up coffee shop ready for next day.’

More information is gleaned from the third question about living conditions.

‘Staff will sleep above the coffee shop, sharing the main bedroom and use the coffee shop kitchen as their own,’ says the answer.

‘There is a private bathroom and sitting area in the cottage for the staff to use.

‘The sitting area includes a fuel burning stove which can be lit in the evening.

‘Any laundry will be collected and washed on the mainland and food shops will be delivered daily.

‘During the busier months – June, July and August – we may get one or two voluntary helpers who will sleep in the second upstairs bedroom’.

According to the application, the job lasts from 1st April ending mid October (weather permitting).

Meanwhile, this post is not for slackers as ‘days off are determined by the weather’.

‘We could have a week of bad weather, therefore no sailings to the Island, or else 4 weeks of sunshine,’ adds the question/answer information.

‘This is where the role can be very intense’.

However, ‘all food and board is included in the position on top of your wage’.

But ‘alcohol and toiletries are not included in daily shops’.

The Blasket Islands are an uninhabited group of islands off the west coast of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland.

According to Wikipedia, the last island to hold a significant population, Great Blasket Island, was abandoned in 1954 due to population decline.

It was best known for a number of Irish language writers who vividly described their way of life and who kept alive old Irish folk tales.

The application form asks anyone interested in the positions to contact [email protected].