{"id":578569,"date":"2026-08-01T08:47:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/578569\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T08:47:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:47:24","slug":"meet-the-people-who-make-summer-happen-we-make-hay-while-the-sun-shines-and-hibernate-in-winter-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/578569\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the people who make summer happen: \u2018We make hay while the sun shines and hibernate in winter\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer is a time when pressure eases and idleness can feel more virtuous than productivity. Schools<\/a> are off, exams are done, and work slows as every second email is met with a chirpy out-of-office reply. <\/p>\n

But that\u2019s only part of the story. For every Irish<\/a> scene of beach swims, ice-cold cider in the sun and waking up somewhere new ready to experience something magical, someone is working their hardest behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

From lifeguards to camp organisers, we spoke to some of the thousands of people whose job it is to make summer happen.<\/p>\n

The Brittas Bay lifeguard: \u2018On warm days, you could have 100 people in the water\u2019Kai Fitzsimons is a lifeguard on Brittas Beach in Co Wicklow\"KaiKai Fitzsimons: ‘You have to be good on the rescue board, and you have to be quick.’ Photograph: Bryan Meade <\/p>\n

Living in Wicklow, I grew up around the water. I started doing water-safety weeks in secondary school, and it was just a natural progression into doing the lifeguard course. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s really lovely to be able to work right beside the sea. I work on Brittas beach, and I\u2019m almost spoilt by how nice it is.<\/p>\n

During the summer season, there are always three of us on duty: two in the hut and one on patrol. Our patrol zone is about 100 to 200 metres from flag to flag. Then there is another patrol zone with different lifeguards, another 800m up the beach. <\/p>\n

Patrolling is quite an active job, and sometimes it can be nerve-racking, especially on busy days. When you hear someone say \u201clifeguard\u201d, your head just snaps around to see if they\u2019re looking for help or what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

Usually, it is people walking by the hut and pointing it out to their kids. It\u2019s rare enough, but when you do hear someone shout for help, your stomach almost does drop, and then you just have to be ready to go, ready to do whatever you can to assist them.<\/p>\n

\"KaiKai Fitzsimons: ‘I can\u2019t see myself doing any other job through college. I\u2019d be miserable working in a bar or a shop.’ Photograph: Bryan Meade <\/p>\n

I keep my fitness up with running and swimming. You have to be good on the rescue board, and you have to be quick.<\/p>\n

Brittas is quite a touristy beach. On warm days, you could have 100 people in the water. You can see if someone is a weak swimmer, and when panic sets in, people forget the simple things. That\u2019s the danger.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018There is nostalgia to the ice-cream van – it says it\u2019s not all doom and gloom\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There was a guy at the weekend, and we had to get him out. He had swallowed water; he was weak, and it was difficult to get him on the board. His family was on the beach, and once we got on to shore, his mom came over and hugged him, and you could tell they were in shock.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think the family were excellent swimmers, so they couldn\u2019t go out and help him themselves. I think it was tough for them that they were almost helpless in the situation and unable to give their son a hand.<\/p>\n

Another fellah had a seizure at the weekend outside the flags. We got the defibrillator just in case. He didn\u2019t need it, thank God. But you\u2019ve got to be ready for anything. You\u2019ve got to go and do what you can. <\/p>\n

Sometimes we get people coming down with barbecues or a lot of alcohol. It\u2019s a pain for us if we have to go and give out about petty stuff like that when we could just be watching the water.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0How to stay safe in water: Don\u2019t drink alcohol before swimming and the \u2018simple questions\u2019 to askOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

This is my second year doing lifeguarding. I can\u2019t see myself doing any other job through college. I\u2019d be miserable working in a bar or a shop. I\u2019m really lucky that I get to be out in nature. <\/p>\n

The Skelligs boat captain: \u2018I don\u2019t know how the monks did it on boats without engines\u2019Rachel Devane is a boat captain for Skellig Michael Cruises in Portmagee, Co Kerry\"RachelRachel Devane of Skellig Michael Cruises, Portmagee, Co Kerry. Photograph: Stephen Power <\/p>\n

I grew up in Portmagee, and I\u2019ve been looking at the Skelligs my whole life. I remember the first time I got to go. I could see why people loved it. It\u2019s just crazy what is built there. A monastery in the middle of the ocean. Insane.<\/p>\n

I was born into a fishing family. My grandpa was a fisherman, and he built a trawler in Dingle in 1981. He called it the Marber Therese after his sisters. In later years, my dad decided he wanted to do tours around the Skelligs. When he built his boat, he called it the Marber Therese II.<\/p>\n

I worked in the booking office first, but I couldn\u2019t wait to get out on to the water. I got my deckhand certificate when I was 16. I did that for a few years, learned a lot and then decided I wanted to captain a boat myself. When I turned 18, I was able to get my passenger boat licence. I just fell in love with it. I was the first female captain ever to do Skellig tours.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Photo essay: Skellig Michael reopens for summer visitors to sun, swells and puffinsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The landing can be challenging due to the swell and the wind at the pier. You have to be careful. You have the lives of 12 passengers in your hands. At the start, I used to get nervous, but the more you do it and get used to it, the more you learn. You just have to take precautions every day.<\/p>\n

The monks built three different staircases on Skellig because they\u2019d land on whichever side suited best and with the most shelter, depending on wind, tide and swell that day. It was three times the work. I don\u2019t know how they did it all on boats without engines. <\/p>\n

\"RachelRachel Devane: ‘I love talking to people from all around the world, seeing how far they have come to see Skellig Michael.’ Photograph: Stephen Power <\/p>\n

We go out in up to 3m swells. Sometimes people love it. It\u2019s like a rollercoaster. Other people are terrified. We have people getting sick every day from the motion.<\/p>\n

Our season starts in April and continues till late October. The island is open from May till the end of September. We work seven days a week in the summer, weather dependent, so it is pretty full on. I tend to do one landing tour and two other tours every day. It is tiring. You\u2019re drained when you come home. But it is fabulous out there, and the wildlife is pretty cool.<\/p>\n

\"BoatBoat captain Rachel Devane shows visitors Skellig Michael. Photograph: Stephen Power <\/p>\n

There are 10,000 puffins on Skellig Michael, and they nest next to the staircase that you climb. They almost look fake, they\u2019re that close. We have loads of dolphins, and sometimes we get minke whales, sperm whales and basking sharks. <\/p>\n

When Star Wars was filming on Skellig, it was a big deal. For a few years afterwards, people couldn\u2019t get a seat on the landing tours because Americans had booked up all the seats. We still get people coming out dressed up with their lightsabres and going up Skellig pretending they are Luke Skywalker.<\/p>\n

Whenever someone hands you the phone and asks you to take a video, you know the ring is coming. It\u2019s lovely. People often propose on the top of the rock or on the boat. <\/p>\n

I love the summer months, meeting people every day, talking to people from all around the world, seeing how far they have come to see Skellig Michael.<\/p>\n

The bean an t\u00ed: \u2018We call doing the shopping an Olympic sport\u2019Michelle Doocey is a bean an t\u00ed at Col\u00e1iste Acla on Achill Island, Co Mayo\"MichelleMichelle Doocey, bean an t\u00ed at Col\u00e1iste Acla on Achill Island, Co Mayo, with her husband. <\/p>\n

We call doing the shopping an Olympic sport. You\u2019re buying so many litres of milk, tonnes of butter, six packets of ham, six packets of cheese, bags and bags of chicken nuggets and burgers. You definitely get some strange looks going around the shop.<\/p>\n

I have 16 boys in the house. It sounds tougher than it is. They get themselves up around 8.20am, and I have breakfast for them. They make their own sandwiches, get ready, and they\u2019re out the door by 9.40am. As long as I have dinner ready for when they get back in the late afternoon, they\u2019re not too bad. They always come back ravenous.<\/p>\n

My husband is here too, and we do everything by halves. It is a nice, easy-going lifestyle. We are both secondary school Irish teachers, and we work in Kildare during the year and then when term finishes, we come down here till the end of August. I\u2019ve been a Bean an T\u00ed for two years now. For eight years before that, I was a teacher in the col\u00e1iste. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s definitely a difference in the kids\u2019 Irish after the two weeks. The house is a great chance for them to practice, and as we are both Irish teachers, it\u2019s handy for them that they can ask us questions and we can help them out. <\/p>\n

The teenagers who come here are so well-mannered. You build up a rapport with them, and you can have the craic. <\/p>\n

This year, I had a group of boys who were absolutely fabulous. We got on really well. They have a com\u00f3rtas na dtithe, a house competition, in the col\u00e1iste. We were gunning to get first place the whole time. It was a Saturday evening, and I was waiting for the lads to come back in with the result. They came in the door all upset, saying we didn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Meet the Irish college class of summer 2026: \u2018Students don\u2019t really miss the phone\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

But then two of them snuck around to the back door with the trophy. We were delighted, and they knew I was so happy for them and all the effort they put in. <\/p>\n

Sometimes we get little thank-you cards from parents. People appreciate you looking after their kids, and the kids appreciate it, and that makes it all worthwhile.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just so easy to work here. Everybody is so approachable and friendly. It\u2019s more like a holiday, but with some work thrown in. I wouldn\u2019t think twice about it if there was an opportunity to move and work here full-time. <\/p>\n

The guest house owner: \u2018It was like destiny that I ended up here\u2019Young Im, Kim (Jess) is co-owner and manager of Allihies Coppermines Lodge on the Beara Peninsula, Co Cork\"YoungYoung Im, Kim: ‘Allihies has a very welcoming environment. The community is so good, the neighbours are so nice’ <\/p>\n

We have a really busy and really short season. It starts on June 1st, and I tell people: \u201cDon\u2019t talk to me. I\u2019ll be grumpy for three months.\u201d<\/p>\n

The whole day is laundry, cleaning, checking the booking sheet and checking people in. I put the first wash on at 9am. I get some help from a cleaning lady who comes at 10, and then it\u2019s continuously non-stop washing. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s usually a lot of sand from the beach in the showers, and there\u2019s been more than one red wine stain, but it\u2019s not too bad. And then all of a sudden it\u2019s 3pm and people start checking in, and then we go again. <\/p>\n

I do yoga to relax my body after the hard work. I go to the beach, put a towel on the sand and let the dogs run around. I stretch, listen to the waves and feel the breeze. <\/p>\n

Allihies has a very welcoming environment. The community is so good, the neighbours are so nice. There are a lot of artists and musicians here, and if there is any event going on in the village people participate and gather.<\/p>\n

It was like destiny that I ended up here. I moved to Perth from Korea and I was studying early childhood education there when I met an Irish man in an Irish bar. Magical. <\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s mother is from Allihies, and it\u2019s like home to him. He wanted to move back, and this place was on the market. It is a big property and has so much potential. I thought, okay, maybe let\u2019s give it a go, but I was nervous too. I loved Australia so much, and it was a question of whether I wanted to give up my life there and start something new again. <\/p>\n

The decision was made when we came to visit family here. It was my second time in Ireland, and we got stuck here with Covid. We couldn\u2019t go back to Australia, so we asked our friends to pack up our things and ship everything over.<\/p>\n

There was a lot of work to do when we bought this place because it had been closed for a few years. It used to be a hostel, and we turned it into a lodge. At the beginning, we didn\u2019t even know how much to charge. It\u2019s been five years since we opened, and everything\u2019s turned out well. <\/p>\n

September is probably my favourite month. It\u2019s more balanced. The weather is good, and we get a lot of cyclists and walkers. We officially close from the October Bank Holiday, and in the winter, the village becomes a mysterious place. You know the sea is on your left side, but you can\u2019t see anything. <\/p>\n

In the winter, I try to go to South Korea to see my family. I\u2019m from the countryside, an hour from Busan. It\u2019s similar vibes to here. People try to help each other, you take your time, there\u2019s no rush.<\/p>\n

The summer camp organiser: \u2018If a kid wants to do something, we\u2019ll make it happen\u2019 Siobh\u00e1n Kavanagh is director of programme and medical at Barretstown Children\u2019s Charity, Co Kildare\"SiobhánSiobh\u00e1n Kavanagh: ‘We are helping to restore fun in kids\u2019 lives and preparing them to go back out there with some resilience and confidence.’ Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

I was a nurse in the children\u2019s oncology unit in Crumlin for 21 years. I was always aware of Barretstown. I would see kids leave the hospital, go to Barretstown, and when I met them for the next appointment, they\u2019d be smiling ear to ear. The parents would say to me that it was like the old child had come back. <\/p>\n

I jumped at the chance to join the team here as head of nursing in 2022. Now, I look after all the programme and medical needs for the camp. Summer is our busiest time, but it\u2019s also our best time. We have six weeks of camps across June, July and August. For each programme, we have 125 children who come here without their parents, for up to six days. <\/p>\n

We have fishing, canoeing, climbing, high ropes, we do arts and crafts, music, photography development and Stem. We try to be inclusive of every child.<\/p>\n

Cancer dramatically changes the trajectory of a child\u2019s life. They go from being in school, having relatively normal lives, doing sports and activities. But then all of that stops. Hobbies, school, everything is put on pause, and they become isolated. Their normal day-to-day life can just be negotiating between adults, hospital treatments and appointments. <\/p>\n

Our summer camps are completely free and give kids a chance to come to a medically safe environment, where we are also supporting their holistic needs, social needs and peer connection. We are helping to restore fun in their lives and preparing them to go back out there with some resilience and confidence, whatever the next phase of their illness might be.<\/p>\n

\"SiobhánSiobh\u00e1n Kavanagh: ‘the kids are meeting people who are on the same journey as them.’ Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

If a kid wants to do something, we\u2019ll make it happen. Take our new high ropes course; it\u2019s a dual high-ropes course, so someone can be totally wheelchair bound, and we can still get them around it. It\u2019s about putting kids in challenging positions, but we always ensure success, so campers walk away feeling they\u2019ve been successful.<\/p>\n

At camp, the kids are meeting people who are on the same journey as them. So they might feel isolated in their community, but when they come here, they get to see someone else who has no hair, or someone else who lost a leg because of an oncology treatment. Things that were very abnormal at home are normal in Barretstown. Everyone here is rooting for every child. <\/p>\n

We always get some lovely emails from parents after the kids come home, saying that an away camp is something they never thought could happen. These parents trust us with their precious cargo, and we make sure we handle them with such care and that we give back a child who can say how brave and strong and creative they are.<\/p>\n

The dancing barman: \u2018We start around 10.30 in the morning and finish at 2am\u2019David Geaney is a five-time world Irish dancing champion and bar manager at The Dingle Pub, Co Kerry\"DavidDavid Geaney, The Dingle Pub: ‘Summer is 10 months long’ <\/p>\n

We always laugh that we only have two seasons in Dingle, winter and summer, and summer is 10 months long. It runs from St Patrick\u2019s Day to the end of November. We make hay while the sun shines and then hibernate in the winter.<\/p>\n

Right now I\u2019m working seven days a week. My grandparents built the place 50 years ago, and they had the same attitude. My parents too; they\u2019ve been in the pub almost 30 years now, and they\u2019ve always done seven days. It\u2019s never been a question. <\/p>\n

We start around 10.30 in the morning and finish at 2am. There are a couple of hours to wind down, and then you\u2019re back again. Sometimes I don\u2019t think people see that side. They don\u2019t see the cleaning or the setting up and the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. It can be tough, it can be gruelling, but I wouldn\u2019t be in the game if I didn\u2019t enjoy it as much as I do. <\/p>\n

Technically, I am a bar manager, but in the summer season, you have to immerse yourself in everything. I go from taking in deliveries, to being a chef, to pulling pints and then at night, I perform with our second band of the evening. It\u2019s probably where I am most at ease. <\/p>\n

There are loads of photos of me dancing around the bar, but nobody seems to recognise me. People will be asking me what time the dancing is, and then I see them wondering, \u201cWhy is the bar tender setting up?\u201d and then you start, and they\u2019re so surprised.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Geaney: ‘I\u2019ll see six strangers chatting to each other like best friends because they were part of the routine’ <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think it\u2019s what people expect when they\u2019re coming into the pub to see Irish dancing. They think it\u2019s going to be a quick show, but it\u2019s up to 30 minutes. It\u2019s fun, and the people we get in the bar are just amazing. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re willing to come up and sing even though they can\u2019t sing, and they come up and dance even though they can\u2019t dance. I think it creates a really cool atmosphere. When I finish, all of a sudden I\u2019ll see six strangers chatting to each other like best friends because they were part of the routine. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve performed all over the world, from Canada, to Japan to the US, and obviously it\u2019s an amazing feeling, but when you\u2019re inside in your own place and it is full to the brim and everyone is smiling and enjoying themselves, and you\u2019re giving them a unique experience that they probably can\u2019t have anywhere else, there is a serious element of pride there. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summer is a time when pressure eases and idleness can feel more virtuous than productivity. Schools are off,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[79176,243956,243955,16088,61,60,7727,3770,709,43,7469],"class_list":["post-578569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-achill-island","tag-barretstown","tag-brittas-bay","tag-dingle","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kerry","tag-kildare","tag-magazine","tag-news","tag-wicklow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}