Up to 23,000 people have applied for a job on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. The job runs from April 1 to October and those selected will be in charge of three guest cottages and the coffee shop on the island which is just off Co Kerry.

Inshore fishermen in Kerry are calling for an immediate cull of the seal population of the Blaskets and surrounding coastal areas, claiming that the damage to fish stocks and nets is now simply “unsustainable”.

Overshadowed by its giant neighbours it may be, but the smallest of the main Blasket islands, Beginish, is no less impressive in its own right.

Just beyond the breaking surf at the White Strand on the Great Blasket island, seals were standing up in the water to get a better look at us humans. 

WE set off up the steep road from the pier, past the ruined friary.