At Home With... Aisling O'Loughlin

From Shannon in County Clare, Aisling O’Loughlin’s move to Dublin saw her settle Clondalkin, where she still lives.

As she explained to Hot Press, “Clondalkin has the real feel of a village about it, not just the shops but the cobblestones, the round tower and the fact that people you don’t really know still say hello to you on the streets. That doesn’t happen often these days.”
Her pad is a two-bedroom apartment she moved into last August. “Perhaps because it’s the very first place I could ever call my own it’s really very special to me and I love it. I love coming home from work and closing the door and just being somewhere that belongs to me. Obviously I was limited in my choice by what I could afford, but I felt it was a great achievement getting onto the property ladder at all, given property prices around the greater Dublin area.”
The location of Chez O’Loughlin has other advantages too. “I’m only a 10-minute drive away from TV3 and I’m also very close to the N7 for whenever I want to visit the folks back in Shannon.”
Although she is no tidiness freak, her place is generally in good order. “Obviously I did a bit of a tidy up for the photo shoot, but I don’t have a problem with a lack of total order. I want my apartment to be comfortable for myself and friends, so the odd thing strewn about isn’t really important one way or the other,” she maintains.
On the down side, her work with Xpose gives her less time than she might like to enjoy her home and the surrounding village. “Working with Xpose takes me away a lot. We’re out nearly all the time at whatever’s going on: press receptions, parties, launches, fashion shows, concerts, film premieres overseas and so on, but I have to pay the rent and I love my work!”
In contrast to the fuss and flurry of her day and night job, her apartment is a place of tranquillity. “It’s very quiet. It’s a lovely neighbourhood and I have a wonderful neighbour called Sheila from Kerry,” she tells hotpress.
Respect for her neighbours means that Aisling is not given to rowdy parties into the small hours. “In fairness, none of my neighbours are into making noise. I can play the piano, but out of respect for my neighbours I’ve left it at home.”
Given the short time she’s been living here she’s still filling in gaps in the furniture. “Until recently the only television set I had was a portable one a friend gave me with a very long aerial. But I’ve just taken possession of this divine flat-screen model and I’ll soon to able to watch 120 channels!”
You might wonder if watching TV is really just more work, or can she actually switch off when switching on? “It’s hard to leave the work aspect out of it completely. I also do a lot of editing, so if I’m watching a programme I can’t help spotting something that I think they did very well, or maybe something that just didn’t work.”
In fact her favourite viewing material is the Biography channel. “I love programmes about famous people that tell you how they achieved what they did. I’m fascinated with that stuff, but it’s also a good source of research material for people I might be doing something on or even interviewing,” she reckons.
But her most favourite possession of all is her sofa. “My sofa is very important to me. I waited so long to be able to afford a really good sofa. Then I saw one I fell in love with straight away. It’s a Princess sofa and I got it from my friend Hilda O’Connor who is a brilliant interior designer. I think no matter where I live I’ll always want that sofa with me. I love it!”
And then there’s the piggy bank. Not just a modest, shy model, but a sizeable pink one. “Not only does it look like a piggy bank but I actually use it to save money in,” she tells me. “I found it in Lahinch and the minute I saw I just had to have it. I put loose e1 coins into it, so when it’s full it’s actually going to be worth quite a bit of money.”
That said, she strikes one as not particularly into material possessions just for the sake of it. “No, I’m not somebody who collects things really. I have no interest in fashion labels or designer clothes, but I like things that are well-crafted and artistic.”
On the subject of art, if she had some more time to call her own she would also do some more painting. “I used to do a lot more of it, and I have one of my own paintings hanging in the apartment. I like that kind of almost cartoon style with lots of colours. It’s not that I fancy myself as a great painter, but I really enjoy it”.
Although she loves animals there isn’t even a goldfish to be seen. “When you’re away a lot, it’s not fair to have pets you can’t properly look after. But if I had some space and a garden I’d love to have lots of animals, hens, sheep, dogs, the whole lot. I love the idea of animals running free around a place,” she says.
Nor is DIY high on her agenda. “I’m totally useless at DIY, although I did manage to hang a picture with the use of a nail and a stiletto shoe!”
The scents on offer are more likely to come from her collection of oils and lotions in the bathroom or from the perfume she always keeps on stand-by in the hall for use as she leaves home. Another thing she usually takes with her is a book. “I enjoy reading, and I always bring a book with me if I think I have time to fill or while travelling. The book I’m currently reading is Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It’s a very moving story about the fight for independence in Nigeria in the ’60s. She is a beautiful writer and I often have to stop reading to reflect on the quality of her writing,” she says.
As for leaving this place, it’s hardly something she’s likely to contemplate for a while given that’s she’s hardly settled in. But when I ask her what would make her move she has one simple answer: ”A pay rise!”

Aisling O’Loughlin is one of the presenters on TV3’s Xpose, broadcast Monday to Saturday at 6pm