Life has become “ a lot more relaxed and happier” for couple Conor Jones and Aisling Costello since they moved to Great Blasket Island, off the coast of Co Kerry, almost three months ago to work as its caretakers.
For Costello, it is the “perfect way” to see out her 20s before her 30th birthday later this year.
“Being on the island makes you really think how pretty amazing it is to enter my 30s looking at life because of how natural and simple it is here. It is like how it should be,” she said.
Costello and Jones (31) became caretakers for six months on April 1st last and will end their tenure at the end of September.
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The couple cater for overnight visitors in three guest cottages, along with running a cafe that offers drinks and light refreshment for those staying and day trippers.
Located about three miles off the coast of Dingle, the Great Blasket Island is home to diverse animal, sea and plant life. There is, however, no running water, electricity, full-time mobile phone coverage or wifi. A small wind-powered generator allows the couple some electricity to charge mobile devices.
Abandoned by its last inhabitants around 1953/1954, due to severe weather conditions and population decline, evidence points to habitation there as early as the Iron Age, with details of a family called the Ferriters leasing land in 1290.
“I’m more at ease within myself. Friends and family who I’ve been talking to since arriving here tell me I’m more relaxed-sounding and in manner than ever,” said Jones, a computer science graduate from Co Wexford, while Costello added: “My general baseline is happiness now.”
The Kilkenny city native is not missing the “constant scrolling on the mobile phone and impact from a busy life” now that she is living on the island.
“We are not bored here at all, we have day and overnight visitors to look after and even if the weather is bad and sea crossings by boat are not able to make the trip, we are reading, taking plenty of walks and Conor is swimming. The slow pace is so much more stimulating. It’s more natural and how life should be. Every day is different,” said Costello.
“The jobs we are doing here really don’t feel like work. We are meeting such a melange of different and interesting people of all ages and backgrounds, more than we could ever have imagined and hoped for.”
The couple agree that they both “get very attached to the guests” and “even day visitors”.
“There was an older man who travelled across from the mainland and he camped here for two or three days. We adopted him as our grandad. He would sit with us in the mornings and evenings having tea and scones – we would chat about everything and anything, shooting the breeze,” said Costello.
From the archives: the Blasket caretakers of 2025
Jones, from Wexford, believes that many of the people who visit the island, made famous by one of its last inhabitants, the author Peig Sayers, “are coming here with a sense of purpose and reason – to switch off or satisfy a need within themselves. We are hearing so many different stories from visitors as to why they come here to the Great Blasket.”
In unison, they explained: “The island does that to people, it is magical. It is like the island is calling them to visit as it did for us.”
They gave an example of a French couple who visited, who had made the promise to themselves back in 1999 when they visited the Blasket Centre in Dún Chaoin that they “would realise their dream one day” and make it to the island. “They did this year and it was wonderful to meet them, feel their sense of pride and satisfaction,” noted Jones.
The couple have met a cornucopia of nationalities, with many visiting from Germany. Everyone who visits is “very respectful to the island and wildlife”.
Nature, wildlife, ecology and the lambing season have kept the couple entertained. Jones “didn’t realise there would be so many wild rabbits and hares here, they really keep us company”, while Costello noted: “It was lambing season when we arrived and it was just so lovely to see them being born and growing up alongside us. They even call to our door in the cottage now. There are also so many various types and breeds of birds we have seen, such as the Manx shearwater, along with the local seals and sea mammals.”
The State owns much of the land on the Great Blasket. Local couple Alice and Billy O’Connor established the Great Blasket Island Experience in 2014, taking over and renovating some of its abandoned cottages to rent to visitors.
When the O’Connors first advertised for the caretakers’ role in January 2019 they were “overwhelmed” by almost 80,000 applications from people all over the world.
The second, third and fourth years they advertised the role the sheer volume of applications became just too much. Last year they introduced a cap of 300 applicants, which has made the selection process “infinitely more manageable”, said Alice O’Connor.
For Costello and Jones, who believe it is a “real privilege” to have been chosen as this year’s caretakers, they are “desperately trying not to think about leaving” when their roles come to an end in three months’ time. They feel like their “true selves here and at home”.
Their outlook on how their lives will be when they return to the mainland has “already altered”.
“We don’t have jobs to go back to when we leave here but I know now that I would like to go into the area of heritage. But we are not putting pressure on ourselves now about life – it will all work out,” Costello said.
An aspect of daily modern living that they are missing, which has “surprised” them, is “the actual process of walking into a supermarket and seeing a wide variety of food”. The couple’s groceries are delivered to the island by boat, and overnight visitors have to bring their own provisions.
They admit that while on the island they have missed family and friends, but some have already visited. Costello is looking forward to seeing his father and their dog when they make the trip across next month.
