Living and working on the Great Blasket Island: ‘You really feel like you’re on the edge of the world’

Working as caretakers on the Great Blasket Island from April to September has been “a magical experience” for Aisling Costello and Conor Jones, who lived on the island for the 2026 season. Reflecting on the couple’s six-month stint on the island off the coast of Co Kerry, Costello, from Cork, says: “I think people who might be applying for the job or reading about the job, think, ‘Oh fab! I’m going to go and chill on the island now for six months.’ “People don’t realise it’s a job. You are employed. It is really full on. I was definitely very idealistic about it, and I still am – it is beautiful, but I think a lot of people probably think that they’re going to just get to frolic through the fields and dance with the sheep all day, but like there’s a lot of working in June, July, and August – you don’t get a second to do any of that.” “Until September,” says Jones. “In September you can frolic away.” READ MOREOnce a job with 80,000 applicants when the role was first posted in 2019, and 23,000 in 2020, the Blasket Island caretaker listing has had a 300 application cap since 2025, making it one of the more competitive job processes in the country.Local couple Alice Hayes and Billy O’Connor are the owners of three cottages and a coffee shop on the Great Blasket, and organise the role of caretaker. Jones says: “We had one interview with Billy and Alice. I was expecting more because I’ve worked in recruitment. “Because we gave a very detailed application, mainly it was them just trying to tell us that there is loads of work. I think they were trying to scare us off.” He laughs.The Blasket Islands are a group of uninhabited islands located about two kilometres from the Dingle peninsula; the Great Blasket Island was evacuated in 1954. There is running water, but no running hot water, and limited electricity. A small wind-powered generator allows the couple enough electricity to charge mobile devices.Great Blasket caretakers Conor Jones and Aisling Costello. Photograph: Sarah Slater View from the caretaker's cottage on the Great Blasket. Photograph: Aisling Costello Great Blasket Island off the coast of Co Kerry. Photograph: Aisling Costello Connectivity is not an issue however.“There’s a 5g mast on Dunquin. Actually, reception is the least of your worries. The reception here is much better than the reception in Cork city. My internet’s never been faster,” says Costello.[ Life as a Great Blasket caretaker: I knew I would go back, but I would not live it the same wayOpens in new window ]“You need that because if something went wrong, we need to be able to call someone. But electricity-wise, you know, we are limited. Everything is limited.” In exchange for bed, board and a stipend, the couple run the cottages as well as the cafe on the island, along with any other odd jobs that need doing, such as building a sheep pen or installing a pump for the island’s back-up water tank. Costello was working in an administration role when she decided last year that she wanted a career break. “That job nearly drove me around the bend. I mean, yeah, it drove me to a remote island,” she says, laughing.Lambs on Great Blasket. Photograph: Aisling Costello A grey seal, Great Blasket Island. Photograph: Aisling Costello Aisling Costello and Conor Jones on the Great Blasket. Photograph: Aisling Costello Although the location is remote, between guests and wildlife, they have had plenty of company, she says. “Rabbits and hare, sheep and lambs, loads of seals. We’ve got the largest grey seal colony in Europe, and at the moment it’s their pupping season. So down on the beach and in all the little coves, you can see the tiny little white ones.“When we first came out, it was the lambing season, so we had all the little dotey pets running around. And now, as we are coming to the end, it’s the pupping season, so we’ve got more little cutie white dotey pets to be looking out for.”Other creatures are the burrowing Manx shearwater, whose exit coincides with the couple’s – “they actually only left the island a week or so ago” – while the swallows took flight further south long ago. The 2026 solar eclipse was billed to be a blockbuster natural phenomenon, and best seen in western Europe, but proved to be somewhat of a let down on the Great Blasket, Costello says.“The eclipse was really cloudy here and it was supposed to be the best spot to see it. People came to stay especially for it. We were all standing outside, hoping to see something. But it was just loads of the midges biting us, and then it got kind of dark for a while, and then it got bright again. So we didn’t really get to see anything,” she says.Sunset on Great Blasket. Photograph: Aisling Costello Moonrise on the island. Photograph: Aisling Costello When it is not cloudy, Costello says, “the sky here is just so gorgeous. We’ve had like some really amazing moon rises recently with the full moon, and we saw shooting stars. “You really feel like you’re on the edge of the world.”There are mainland comforts that they have missed, however. “I have dreams about going to the supermarket and browsing the aisles,” says Costello, while Jones adds: “I miss the middle aisle.” Another convenience they miss is the option of eating out in a restaurant, or having a meal that has not been cooked by themselves. “I’m very excited about getting a Chinese takeaway. I’m mad to have a spice bag,” says Costello. Caretaker Conor Jones at sunset on the Great Blasket Island. Photograph: Aisling Costello Spice bags and supermarket middle aisles will soon be within reach for Costello and Jones, as they are set to leave the island, possibly as early as Sunday.“There’s no date on it yet – the sea is our master out here,” says Costello.[ ‘It’s how life should be’: Inside a summer on the Great BlasketOpens in new window ]Despite all of their hard work – Jones says the pair worked for 40 days without a break over the summer – the couple say their big takeaway is the slower pace of life. “I know we’ve been really busy, but also at the same time it’s this nice slow pace of life. So I’m definitely going to try and bring that into city living. Just kind of take it easy and not rush everything because I guess you can get burnt out quite easily,” Jones says. “I just think we’re really appreciative of having had this opportunity,” says Costello. “It is the most amazing thing I have ever done, ever in my life. I know I’m always going to look back on this. “To be honest, I’d love to never leave, but obviously all good things must come to an end.”