There are very few jobs around that can attract thousands upon thousands of applications right across the world from South Africa to Alaska. But surely, a post with such interest would be in a big multi-national company and probably a tropical location?
Not quite.
A recent job vacancy for two people to manage a coffee shop and guest accommodation on the Great Blasket Island off the coast of Co Kerry has had almost 24,000 applications since it was first advertised in early January. What’s more, for this live-in appointment, there’s no electricity, hot water or Wi-Fi.
The island has been uninhabited since 1953 and for some, this remote location would be an absolute no go, but clearly, very many people are craving solitude in this day and age.
To find out the attraction to living and working on the Great Blasket Island, Irish Country Living speaks to Lesley Kehoe, who, along with her boyfriend Gordon Bond, undertook the job last year from April to October.
Lesley is from Monasterevin and Gordon, nearby Kilcullen. Like very many people living in Kildare, they faced a long commute to Dublin every day.
“I was on the train home from work this time last year,” recalls Lesley. “It just came up, the vacancy appeared on my Facebook. I remember I laughed to myself when I saw it, because I thought, ‘I’m going to do that job, this is happening’.
“I got off the train and rang Gordon immediately. I explained about the job and said, ‘I’m going to apply right now’. He said, ‘OK’ and I was like, ‘Just checking to see you’re OK with that’, because it was looking for a couple or two good friends.”
Lesley’s interest in the Great Blasket however, went beyond just escapism from modern life. 
From a young age she was fascinated by the island once home to famous writers, including the Leaving Cert favourite Peig Sayers. Her master’s dissertation was on the intangible cultural heritage of the Great Blasket Island.
When they got offered the position, Lesley was working in her “other dream job”, the Seamus Heaney exhibition in Dublin run by the National Gallery.
“It was a huge thing to leave it and it wasn’t something I took lightly. Gordon was working in the civil service, in a job he loved too. It didn’t come from us hating our jobs, it was more that this was an opportunity we couldn’t turn down really.”
Island life
The couple arrived on the Great Blasket on 6 April 2019, and took to island life much quicker than expected. They had cold running water, as there are springs on the island.
There were gas cookers and a wind turbine connected to two car batteries from which you could charge a phone or on a very windy day, a laptop.
“We probably didn’t think we’d immerse ourselves as quickly, we thought there would be more of an adjustment phase. There wasn’t. We literally fell in love with the island form the minute we got there,” says Lesley. “It was colder than we expected alright for the first few months.
“Gordon always says he found the light the hardest. The houses are built into a hillside, so when the sun drops behind the hill, the houses fall into darkness immediately.
“You’re in a race with the sun to get your washing up done, get your basic bits done. At home you would just turn on a light switch, you wouldn’t think about it. We were immediately tuned into the elements that way.”
With several boats of visitors coming to the island each day, Lesley and Gordon had a busy coffee shop to run, as well as the accommodation for overnight guests. 
The island’s appeal for visitors, Lesley feels, is much the same as its appeal to her, how removed it is from everything.
“One of my favourite things was sitting in the house looking out at the mainland. You would see as it got darker the lights coming on in Dunquin and the cars coming around the corner at Slea Head.
“You just felt like you were a million miles away from all that. It was a world you had nothing to do with.”
New values
All in all, Lesley and Gordon’s tenure on the island lasted six months. They only came off once to attend a wedding. They both feel it was a really positive experience and say they would do it again only for other commitments in 2020.
Reflecting on the whole adventure, Lelsey says their time on the Great Blasket Island gave them a better sense of what they value; they definitely won’t be doing long commutes again.
“Someone said once to us on the island, ‘If you’re sad, the island won’t make you happy, it will just magnify whatever you’re already feeling’.
“If you go there sad and you want to be made happy, it will only make you feel worse, because everything is magnified and felt more intensely’.
“We went there wondering what we were going to do next in life. What we have learned is that we want a life more centred around the values we had on the island; no matter what you applied yourself to, you got it done with a bit of hard work.”
Read more
Island hopping: Ireland's island treasures
Long read: Island hopping with Jack Heanue - farmer, fisherman and postman
There are very few jobs around that can attract thousands upon thousands of applications right across the world from South Africa to Alaska. But surely, a post with such interest would be in a big multi-national company and probably a tropical location?
Not quite.
A recent job vacancy for two people to manage a coffee shop and guest accommodation on the Great Blasket Island off the coast of Co Kerry has had almost 24,000 applications since it was first advertised in early January. What’s more, for this live-in appointment, there’s no electricity, hot water or Wi-Fi.
The island has been uninhabited since 1953 and for some, this remote location would be an absolute no go, but clearly, very many people are craving solitude in this day and age.
To find out the attraction to living and working on the Great Blasket Island, Irish Country Living speaks to Lesley Kehoe, who, along with her boyfriend Gordon Bond, undertook the job last year from April to October.
Lesley is from Monasterevin and Gordon, nearby Kilcullen. Like very many people living in Kildare, they faced a long commute to Dublin every day.
“I was on the train home from work this time last year,” recalls Lesley. “It just came up, the vacancy appeared on my Facebook. I remember I laughed to myself when I saw it, because I thought, ‘I’m going to do that job, this is happening’.
“I got off the train and rang Gordon immediately. I explained about the job and said, ‘I’m going to apply right now’. He said, ‘OK’ and I was like, ‘Just checking to see you’re OK with that’, because it was looking for a couple or two good friends.”
Lesley’s interest in the Great Blasket however, went beyond just escapism from modern life.
From a young age she was fascinated by the island once home to famous writers, including the Leaving Cert favourite Peig Sayers. Her master’s dissertation was on the intangible cultural heritage of the Great Blasket Island.
When they got offered the position, Lesley was working in her “other dream job”, the Seamus Heaney exhibition in Dublin run by the National Gallery.
“It was a huge thing to leave it and it wasn’t something I took lightly. Gordon was working in the civil service, in a job he loved too. It didn’t come from us hating our jobs, it was more that this was an opportunity we couldn’t turn down really.”
Island life
The couple arrived on the Great Blasket on 6 April 2019, and took to island life much quicker than expected. They had cold running water, as there are springs on the island.
There were gas cookers and a wind turbine connected to two car batteries from which you could charge a phone or on a very windy day, a laptop.
“We probably didn’t think we’d immerse ourselves as quickly, we thought there would be more of an adjustment phase. There wasn’t. We literally fell in love with the island form the minute we got there,” says Lesley. “It was colder than we expected alright for the first few months.
“Gordon always says he found the light the hardest. The houses are built into a hillside, so when the sun drops behind the hill, the houses fall into darkness immediately.
“You’re in a race with the sun to get your washing up done, get your basic bits done. At home you would just turn on a light switch, you wouldn’t think about it. We were immediately tuned into the elements that way.”
With several boats of visitors coming to the island each day, Lesley and Gordon had a busy coffee shop to run, as well as the accommodation for overnight guests.
The island’s appeal for visitors, Lesley feels, is much the same as its appeal to her, how removed it is from everything.
“One of my favourite things was sitting in the house looking out at the mainland. You would see as it got darker the lights coming on in Dunquin and the cars coming around the corner at Slea Head.
“You just felt like you were a million miles away from all that. It was a world you had nothing to do with.”
New values
All in all, Lesley and Gordon’s tenure on the island lasted six months. They only came off once to attend a wedding. They both feel it was a really positive experience and say they would do it again only for other commitments in 2020.
Reflecting on the whole adventure, Lelsey says their time on the Great Blasket Island gave them a better sense of what they value; they definitely won’t be doing long commutes again.
“Someone said once to us on the island, ‘If you’re sad, the island won’t make you happy, it will just magnify whatever you’re already feeling’.
“If you go there sad and you want to be made happy, it will only make you feel worse, because everything is magnified and felt more intensely’.
“We went there wondering what we were going to do next in life. What we have learned is that we want a life more centred around the values we had on the island; no matter what you applied yourself to, you got it done with a bit of hard work.”
Read more
Island hopping: Ireland's island treasures
Long read: Island hopping with Jack Heanue - farmer, fisherman and postman
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