Comedic performer Garron Noone has defended comments he made on social media about immigration but admitted he could have been more specific.
Mr Noone came back online on Monday night three days after deleting all his social media comments.
On Friday morning he posted videos saying Conor McGregor was a “bad person” but had a point in relation to immigration.
He then added: “The [immigration] systems that we have in place are being taken advantage of, and that is plain to see. And the Government continually does not allow people to express their concerns about that.”
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His comments drew a significant response both for and against. Noone said he took time away from his social media accounts to give himself an opportunity to respond properly.
Had he done so immediately, his response would be “solely based on emotion and that would not be productive”. He said he wanted to clear his head.
Mr Noone stressed he never aligned with Mr McGregor. However, he said people have concerns about issues in rural Ireland that are not being articulated.
“Denying the reality that people have these concerns is leaving a massive vacuum for people like Conor McGregor to occupy and spread messages that you don’t want him to spread,” he explained.
“That’s the entire point of my video and I stand by that.”
However, he admitted he needed to be very specific about what he was trying to say when he mentioned immigration and crime in the same sentence.
“I don’t think I was specific enough and a lot of misinterpretation is on me,” he said.
“I stand by what I said in my first video, this video will clarify any points I seen that were taken up differently to how I meant them, and this will be my last word on it.
“I have a very large platform, and the things I say get out to a lot of people, and if they’re poorly communicated, people absolutely should criticise me now, and they should criticise me in the future for that.”
He added: “This is the last time I’m going to discuss this particular topic. I really want to get back to doing what I like to do, which is just having the craic.”
