Fermoy welcomes apology from Graham Norton over comments

The chairman of Fermoy’s Tidy Towns Committee, Fine Gael councillor Noel McCarthy has welcomed an apology by BBC chat show host Graham Norton following negative comments about the Cork town.

On the Graham Norton show on Friday, October 13th a female audience member called Zoe said during the red chair segment that she had lived in Ireland for 20 years.

When asked where, the Scottish woman answered: “Fermoy, Co Cork,” describing it as a “horrible, horrible town.”

Last Friday night, Norton - who is from Bandon and has a home at Ahakista - issued an apology to the town of Fermoy.

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“Before we do anything, I must begin with an apology,” he said. “Last week, in the red chair, there was someone who was less than kind about the town of Fermoy. Well, suffice to say, the people of Fermoy were not happy - they were quite upset about it. So we’d like to apologise.”

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Cllr McCarthy told RTE radio’s Morning Ireland on Monday the apology was “really” appreciated.

“It was a great boost for us because, as you could imagine, the comments from Zoe the week before really upset us here in Fermoy, and especially our Tidy Towns committee, because we’re very proud of the town.

“We have a good, hardworking committee led by our project manager, Paul. And as you can imagine, the committee of volunteers certainly were disappointed.” Cllr McCarthy said the committee had written to the Graham Norton show, but had not received a response before the apology was broadcast.”

Cllr McCarthy said the town was now famous, while “no publicity is bad publicity, at the same time, we want to put the record straight.

“But yes, we are serious and we encourage people to come to Fermoy. And the right message has been sent out with the apology. And Fermoy is a good place to live, to visit. And we’re really very, very proud of our town.”

The Tidy Town Committee has issued an invitation to Graham Norton to visit Fermoy the next time he is visiting his home in west Cork.