A POSITION TO manage a coffee shop and “off-the-grid” accommodation on Kerry’s Great Blasket Island has attracted hundreds of applicants after it was advertised online.

The job, which requires two friends or a couple to manage the accommodation and coffee shop for six months during the tourist season, was first posted online last week.

The island is now deserted, but was inhabited until the mid 1900s by about 170 people until regular access to it became unreliable.

However, it still attracts visitors during the tourist season, with the OPW providing tours of its village and giving visitors a look into the lives of those who lived there.

The position has been described by the island’s owner Alice Hayes as “intense… tough, but a very different and unique position”, with applicants for the position coming from all over the world.

“It is a busy accommodation, it’s very basic off the grid,” she told Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1.

“It’s a sort of glamping experience: there’s no electricity, no wi-fi, no hot showers,” Hayes said.

“It’s off-the-grid and back to basics. It’s fires, candles, stoves, wildlife, nature. And it’s beautiful, very idyllic.”

The successful applicants will be required to live on the island from 1 April to 1 October this year, when they will have to charge electronic items using a wind turbine attached to a car battery, cook using gas canisters, and to have a cold shower every morning.

“Day-to-day runnings are turning over the accommodation, and getting them ready for the new arrivals and new guests that are coming,” Hayes said.

“Then you’re into the coffee shop, and opening that up. The island has six boats running to it, so it’s day visitors, serving teas and coffees, managing the ongoings of the shop and dealing with people as well…

“You have to have good initiative, good people skills, and to be friendly, approachable and chatty.”

Those interested in the position are encouraged to apply to info@greatblasketisland.net for more information.