A hotel in Ballyvaughan is back up and running after three years.

The Wild Atlantic Lodge has reopened under new management, having been closed to the public for that lengthy period.

Shauna Browne and Daniel Daly are the new owners and Shauna spoke to Alan Morrissey on Mondays Morning Focus.

Photo (c) Tripadvisor

Clare Older People’s Council, part of Clare County Council’s Age Friendly County Programme, will again host this year’s Health and Wellbeing Age Expo on Thursday, 2nd of October at Treacy’s West County Hotel, here in Ennis (from 11am to 4pm).

The Age Expo will showcase over 50 supports and services available in County Clare that are aimed at Older People.

On Mondays Morning Focus, Alan Morrissey was joined by Maurice Harvey, Chair of the Health & Wellbeing Age Expo Committee.

Photo (c) Clare County Council

'OLDER, BOLDER, WISER' is a one woman show by Barbara Scully who will coming to The Glór Theatre in Ennis on Friday 26th of September.

‘Older, Bolder, Wiser’ is a combination of comedy and story telling as Barbara muses on some of the absurdities of being a woman along with the joy of getting older.

To find out more, Alan Morrissey was joined on Mondays Morning Focus on the line by Barbara to tell us more.

Photo (c) Glór via Facebook

The Presidential Election will take place on the 24th of October, when we will go to the polls to vote for Michael D. Higgins’ successor in Áras an Uachtaráin.

There are three names in the race to become President of Ireland so far: Former All-Ireland winning manager and player with Dublin, Jim Gavin, who is Fianna Fáil’s candidate, Independent candidate Catherine Connolly, and former Cabinet minister and Fine Gael’s presidential candidate Heather Humphreys.

Alan Morrissey was joined on Mondays Morning Focus by Heather Humphreys for more.

Photo (c) House of Oireachtas

The President of Shannon Chamber is criticising the Government for allowing the Shannon Town Masterplan to "bob around" for three years. The plan, which is described as a "multi-dimensional approach to the further development and enhancement of Shannon Town Centre through proposals for retail, commercial, residential and civic amenities", was ratified by Clare County Council January of 2022. A key aspect of the plan is the One Shannon Hub which will is to be a reimagined town centre consisting of a town hall, adaptable performance and community space, library and flexible co-working spaces. Shannon Chamber President Mark Nolan says it's time for action and a commitment of funding for the project.

More than half of early years and school age care facilities in Clare have staffing deficits. It follows a new members survey by Early Childhood Ireland, which shows 56% of settings in this county reported staff vacancies in the last 12 months. As part of its pre-budget submission, it's calling on the Government to guarantee pay parity between Early Years graduates and primary school teachers, who are qualified to the same level. Owner of Room to Bloom in Cloughleigh, Hazel O'Connor says the gap in conditions is a huge challenge for the sector.

Clare Aontú has renewed its call for a state of emergency to be declared to tackle homelessness in Clare and across the Midwest. It follows the party's pre Dáil 'Think in' which was held in Maynooth this past weekend. The latest figures show there are 73 adults in Clare living in emergency accommodation, while a further 232 children across the region are homeless. Clare's Aontú rep, June Dillon, says not enough is being done to prevent children from growing up in hotel accommodation.

An Post has been urged to exhaust all avenues to retain its office in Clare's second-largest town.

The contract for Shannon's Post Office went up for tender last week following the resignation of its Postmaster.

A procurement process to find a new operator is open until September 26th.

Newmarket-On-Fergus Fianna Fáil Councillor David Griffin has written to An Post on the matter, he says it's a crucial community asset.

Ennis Municipal District admits works it carried out last year to address a speeding problem in a Clare village have resulted in "little improvement" in the problem.

Fine Gael Councillor Paul Murphy has called for the introduction of traffic calming measures, the repair of VMS speed reading signs and a great Garda presence in Doora amid "persistent reports" of speeding in the area.

Ennis MD says it installed line marking and rumble trips as well as a new footpath on the L4114 in the village last year but claims speed surveys taken before and after the works don't show a notable difference.

Councillor Murphy says the village is used as a "rat run" from Ennis to East Clare.

Fr Gerry presents Beyond belief for Sunday 14th September 2025.