Fermoy Tidy Towns welcomes Graham Norton apology after 'horrible town' criticism from guest

Graham Norton during filming for the Graham Norton Show. Picture: Matt Crossick/PA Wire

Graham Norton has apologised after a guest on his show described Fermoy as a "horrible town" last week.

One of the participants in the 'Red Chair' segment of The Graham Norton Show last week caused outrage in the Cork town after her comments.

The participant, a Scottish woman called Zoe, told last Friday's show she had lived in Ireland for 20 years. 

When asked where, she responded: “Fermoy, Co Cork,” which she went on to describe as a “ horrible, horrible town”.

The chairman of Fermoy's Tidy Towns committee had asked for an apology from the show for the comments.

Prior to the 'Red Chair' segment on Friday night's episode, Mr Norton said: "Before we do anything, I must begin with an apology.

"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."

Mr Norton did note that he had defended the town to Zoe, pointing to the large pencil in the town which is a signpost for the former Faber-Castell factory.

"However, on the upside, Fermoy did win the cleanest town in Ireland in 2007 and 2018 so I'd imagine it's still quite clean. Big up to Fermoy."

On Monday morning, the chairperson of Fermoy’s Tidy Towns Committee, Fine Gael councillor, Noel McCarthy, welcomed the apology. 

Cllr McCarthy told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, they “really” appreciated the comments.

“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.

“We were hoping that the letter did get there in time. But if not, I'm sure social media and the papers and the researchers have picked it up all week. 

I think they might have got the message that we were disappointed, and he started off with the apology, saying somebody is not happy. And that's exactly what we were. We weren't happy with the comments.” 

Cllr McCarthy said the town was now famous, and while “no publicity is bad publicity, at the same time, we want to put the record straight. We are serious and we encourage people to come to Fermoy."

"The right message has been sent out with the apology, and Fermoy is a good place to live, to visit. 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.

Norton, a Bandon native, has a home in Ahakista in West Cork.