Practical Info

Volunteer Summer Summit 2026 – Ireland

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This year’s VSS will be hosted in the village of Letterfrack, located in the beautiful, quiet, and rural region of Connemara on the west coast of Ireland. Our main hub is the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Connemara, a campus that specializes in furniture design and woodworking. Because the village is small and the university aligns with our non-profit mission, we have the unique privilege of using their workshop spaces and comfortable, technically-equipped rooms.

All of the accommodation places are located within short walking distance from the campus, as well as the three local pubs, a primary school, a church, a football club, and local cafes and bookshops. For your daily needs, there is a supermarket and the Wild Goat Café, a community enterprise located right within the university buildings.

The venue is also situated directly on the edge of the Connemara National Park. The park’s visitor centre—featuring a cinema-style audio visual room, an art exhibition space, and a large courtyard for outdoor workshops—is just a 5-minute walk from the village center.

You can read more about the campus and region here: https://www.atu.ie/campus/connemara.

The address of the venue: ATU Connemara, Letterfrack, Co. Galway, Ireland – Google Maps

Fees

The fee includes accommodation for 5 nights, all meals (breakfast, lunch, coffee breaks and dinner) for 4.5 days, a welcome package (including the famous VSS T-shirt) and the programme activities.

Type of accommodation: Any AFS partner
Shared Room 490€
Single Room with Single Bed 510€
Single Room with Double Bed 530€

Accommodation Type

  • Shared rooms: Shared room with one or two people. Shared bathroom with 2 to 4 other people.
  • Single rooms: Individual room. Shared bathroom with 2 to 4 other people.

There is only a limited number of all types of rooms; the rooms will be filled up on a first come first served basis; single rooms will be prioritized to participants with justified reasons; once the lower-rate rooms are filled, early bird participants will be automatically upgraded to the next rooms at no additional cost.

Travel Guidelines

Travelling to the venue is straightforward, but might take some time. So it is important that you plan it in advance.

The main airport with more connections in Ireland, and which you might be flying to, is the Dublin Airport. Other airports that you might find flights are Shannon Airport and Cork Airport.

Once you arrive in Ireland, your best option to get to the venue is by taking the bus services from Citylink. There are four daily buses from Galway city to Letterfrack, the town that is hosting VSS this year. If you land in Dublin Airport, there are several buses to Galway city.

Registration Process

1. Participants Application –> 2. Confirmation –> 3. Payment –> 4. Workshop selection

Steps by Step

Step 1: Participants Application. By filling in this form, you can apply for the VSS in a few minutes! Once you have filled in all the required information, you will receive an automatic email from EFIL confirming your application has been submitted.* In the form you will be asked to express your room preference. Please note that this is not a booking: as there is a limited amount of rooms for each category we can only confirm your preference after you have paid in step 3: payment. Rooms are assigned on a first come first served basis.

Step 2: Confirmation rounds. Every volunteer needs to be approved for participation by their national AFS organisation. Once we receive the decision by your offices, you will get an email telling you whether you have been approved or not for participation. There will be several rounds of confirmation so the sooner you apply the sooner you’ll know!

NB: Approval to participate in the VSS doesn’t mean your office will contribute financially to your participation so make sure to check this with your AFS organisation. – In case you cannot participate, because you did not get a scholarship, you still have to cancel via email to [email protected]. Only cancellations to this email are valid!

Step 3: Payment & Booking travel. With the confirmation email you will get the payment instructions. Pay as soon as possible to secure your spot. EFIL will send you an email once your payment has been received. After payment you can start arranging your travel; you will have to communicate these details in the next step of the registration.

Step 4: Workshop Selection and Logistical Details. After the confirmation of your payment, soon you will be contacted to sign up for workshops and you will have to provide us with your travel details and other information such as dietary restrictions, etc. Once you have filled in all the required information, you will receive an automatic email from EFIL.*

*If you don’t receive this email please check your spam folder or contact us.

Cancellation Policy

In case you decide to withdraw your registration, you will need to cancel by sending an email to [email protected] in the EFIL office. Only cancellations to this email are valid! No-payment, no show or stop replying is NOT a cancellation.

IMPORTANT! Once you register on the form you will accept the terms and therefore the cancellation policy; once you are confirmed by your organisation, we assume that you will be a participant subject to the cancellation policy. If the cancellation fee is not paid, you will be excluded from other EFIL activities. 

Please note that these cancellation fees will be charged:

  • If you cancel after May 10, 2026 (23:59 CEST), there will be no reimbursement and you will have to pay the full fee.
  • Participants applying after the cancellation deadline remain liable for the full fee.
Cancel your participation