One evening a couple of years back, Christy Dixon was listening to Clare FM from his home in Dublin when Joan Hanrahan played a slow-air track, ‘An Fhuinseogigín Rua’, on her show The West Wind. Dixon had learned the song going to school in Mullagh in west Clare but the memory was even more poignant because it reminded him of his time playing music with the famed Willie Clancy.

A move by council contractors to almost cut a road in half — but leave the old road markings in place for now — has Ennis people locals up in arms after a few near misses on the route.

The dismantled but famed West Clare Railway line is to breathe new life.

Tales of ghost ships and a hidden city are among a wealth of folklore explored by a pioneering heritage trail in a spectacular part of Clare which could provide a template for a series of walking routes along the Wild Atlantic Way.

A NUMBER of internationally renowned authors have been confirmed as participants in the Ennis Book Club Festival 2008, details of which were announced today.