The holidays are a time of indulgence, with most celebrations centered on having festive food and drinks. It's no wonder then that most people expect to gain some weight over Christmas.

One study of three European countries suggested that adults tend to be 0.35% heavier on a Monday than they were the previous Friday.

Alan Morrissey was joined by the owner and founder of Authentic Health, Smaranda Maier, to discuss her 7 tips for the festive period.

The Christmas guide is available here: https://www.authentichealth.ie/

Photo (c): Clare FM

On Tuesday’s Morning Focus, Alan Morrissey spoke to Fergal O’Keefe, host of the Travel Tales with Fergal podcast.

On this week’s Travel Tales, Fergal discussed travel trends and tips for 2025 and his 2024 highlights.

Who doesn’t love a good Christmas song?

Would you love a Christmas song even more if it had a Clare connection?

Myles Gaffney is a three-time Grammy nominee who has written a Christmas song called Bring Me a Home This Christmas, based on the story of a young man from Ennis.

Picture © Pixabay

In this week’s History in Focus, Alan Morrissey is joined by local historian and author, Colm Liddy to focus on the news at Christmas 1864.

Colm covered local news, news from Dublin, foreign news and letters to the editor.

If you have any stories you would like to share with Colm about your town, you can contact him at [email protected] or Clare FM at [email protected]

Over half of teachers see students arrive at school without having a breakfast.

That’s according to research from Kellogg’s, which found that 58% of teachers surveyed see students arriving without breakfast very often, with a further 42% observing this often.

The research also discovered that 42% of teachers surveyed believe the cost-of-living crisis has had a major impact on students' access to breakfast at home, with an additional 33% reporting a significant impact.

To get a sense of whether this worrying scenario is happening in Clare, Alan Morrissey was joined by Assistant Principal of CBS Primary School in Ennis, Colm Davoren, and Principal of St. Joseph’s Community College Kilkee, Agnes Hehir.

Photo (c): Engin_Akyurt from pixabay via Canva

Ennis Lions Club are always busy with events and initiatives and they’re certainly not slowing down with many Christmas activities planned.

The Remembrance Tree, in collaboration with Clare County Council, will raise funds and awareness of Milford Hospice and The Children’s ARK at University Hospital Limerick.

Santa has been in touch with Ennis Lions Club and confirmed that he will be in the square on December 14th and 15th from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

To talk more about the activities planned, Alan Morrissey was joined by the Secretary of Ennis Lions Club, Tom Carey, and member of Ennis Lions Club, Gary Pegg.

Photo (c): Clare FM

The former Prime Minister of Syria has agreed to hand over power to the Islamist rebel group HTS after it toppled Bashar al Assad's regime.

Russian state media is reporting Bashar al Assad is in Moscow, where he's been granted asylum.

However, there is concern among the international community that change doesn't guarantee peace.

HTS is currently a banned terror organisation in a number of countries.

But the leader of the main Syrian opposition armed group that seized Damascus, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, says the Syrian people are the “rightful owners” of the country.

To discuss this further, Alan Morrissey was joined by Neil Robinson, Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Limerick.

Picture (c) by omersukrugoksu from Getty Images Signature via Canva

Clare County Council is seeking to discuss potential sites for a new Ennis Emergency Department with the next Health Minister. In a formal submission to HIQA, the local authority says it can identify both brownfield and greenfield locations which are suitable for such a service in the county town. The document also states that 40% of Clare residences are located more than 45 minutes away from an ED, and that the 71 additional beds planned for University Hospital Limerick next year will not be sufficient to meet existing demand. Maghera Fianna Fáil Councillor Pat Hayes says a new facility for Ennis is long overdue.

It's claimed people with disabilities in Clare are unable to enjoy an equal social life due to a lack of accessible facilities. The local authority has called on the outgoing Taoiseach and Minister for Finance to establish a grant scheme to allow for universal toilets to be installed in cafés, bars and restaurants. The issue has been widely highlighted in Kilrush, where 791 people are currently living with some form of disability. Kilrush Independent Councillor Ian Lynch says the lack of suitable infrastructure has led to very demoralising situations for locals.

Homes and business in parts of Clare could remain without electricity for a number of days.

Following the onset of Storm Darragh on Friday night, disruptions to both power and water supplies continue to be rectified across the county.

With restoration works continuing from first light again today, 668 premises across the county remain without power this afternoon.

At the height of the storm, wind speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour were recorded in Clare, with 16,000 homes and business in total losing supply across the county.

The ESB has confirmed extensive damage was caused to electrical infrastructure, the likes of which it claims has not been seen since Storm Ophelia made landfall in 2017.

Power has been restored to the majority of properties here, but ESB Clare Area Manager, Alan Hogan, says approximately 250 customers will remain without power tonight, and that smaller pockets out outages may not be rectified until later in the week.