Cork nurse named as a new caretaker of Great Blasket Island

Dan Regan and Emily Campbell, who will be caretakers of the Great Blasket Island in 2023.

A Cork woman and her partner have been named as the newest caretakers on the Great Blasket Island.

Every year, the island requires two caretakers to help maintain the region during the busy summer period.

The island, once home to the storyteller Peig Sayers, has no hot running water or electricity, but this has not stopped thousands of people from applying for the role of caretaker each year.

In 2023, it will be filled by Emily Campbell and her husband Dan Regan.

Emily, originally from Bandon, worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London as a children's nurse, while Londoner Dan worked as a civil engineer on a high-speed railway project.

Now they will live on the island for six months to help keep it running in the summer.

Staff sleep above the coffee shop and use the coffee shop kitchen and toilets as their own.

Billy O’Connor and Alice Hayes maintain the four holiday cottages on the island, as well as the coffee shop.

The couple received a “phenomenal amount of emails” over the last few years from people looking to take the role, meaning they have had to introduce a cut-off point for applications, while couples are preferred due to the two caretakers sharing the main bedroom above the coffee shop.

Brock Montgomery and Claire de Haas with their dog Lenny. Picture: by Noel Sweeney

Last year, Brock Montgomery and Claire de Haas served as the island's caretakers, learning to live by candlelight at night, relying on fires for heating, and a very small windmill to charge their phones.