{"id":394867,"date":"2026-04-12T14:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/394867\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T14:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:55:10","slug":"when-you-get-to-west-cork-it-feels-like-youre-in-a-different-country-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/394867\/","title":{"rendered":"When you get to West Cork, it feels like you\u2019re in a different country \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

How agreeable are you?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think I\u2019m controversial as a person, because there\u2019s a bit of a people-pleaser in me. I don\u2019t like being the odd one out or standing out from the crowd with my opinions. I definitely veer away from conflict, but I would say I\u2019m also honest, so there is a line I would draw.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your middle name, and what do you think of it?<\/p>\n

My middle name is Rebecca, and when I was younger, I used to wish that I had been called Rebecca rather than Faye because I loved it. I\u2019m not called Rebecca after anyone. I think my mum just really liked the name and wasn\u2019t so sure about either that or Faye.<\/p>\n

Where is your favourite place in Ireland?<\/p>\n

West Cork would be my favourite, around Schull. It\u2019s absolutely beautiful. I spent a lot of time down there during my teenage years, and I just love how you feel so removed from the rest of the world. I live in Dublin at the moment, and I lived in Dublin during college. I love getting out of Dublin because it\u2019s so busy, but when you get to West Cork, it feels like you\u2019re in a different country.<\/p>\n

Describe yourself in three words.<\/p>\n

Bubbly. Charismatic. Honest.<\/p>\n

When did you last get angry?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a very angry person. I spend a lot of time in the car, though, so I can veer towards road annoyance now and again. I travel to gigs, and I drive to work, and some weekends I could leave Dublin for Donegal and then after the gig drive from Donegal to Derry and then from Derry back to Dublin. Angry drivers irritate me. I\u2019m not an angry driver, but the actual road-ragers piss me off, for sure. You know, people beeping their horns over stupid things, or when they\u2019re driving right up close behind you. I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, my God, calm down, there\u2019s no need for this, we\u2019re all just trying to get home here.\u2019<\/p>\n

What have you lost that you would like to have back?<\/p>\n

I lost a friend a couple of years ago, so I definitely would love to have him back. That was very tragic, actually, a road accident. He was knocked down by a car, a hit-and-run, around the corner from my home in Limerick. Yes, I would love to have him back. Sadly, there\u2019s nothing you can do about it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your strongest childhood memory?<\/p>\n

I remember as a kid spending a lot of time with my Dad [actor\/comedian Pat Shortt<\/a>], and he\u2019d always have the television on in the morning. I was very, very young at the time, and \u2013 oh God, I\u2019m talking about driving here again \u2013 there was some snippet on about a car accident. I remember him turning around to me and saying that I should never sit in a car without wearing a seatbelt. Maybe it was just out of sheer fear, but that stuck with me for some reason.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t have any regrets, so far, in my life, and I try not to. I feel that I\u2019m very good at grabbing opportunities\u2019<\/p>\n

Where do you come in your family\u2019s birth order, and has that defined you?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m the eldest of three. I have one sister and one brother. I\u2019m 27, and my sister is two years younger than me, and my brother is five years younger than me. There\u2019s definitely a responsibility that comes with being the eldest. You grow up quicker, and that can sometimes make you a little bit more serious. Personally, I\u2019m far more of a worrier in comparison to my siblings. Dad travelled and gigged so much when we were kids, so I would have felt that I had to help with my siblings, even though the age gap isn\u2019t that big.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Pat Shortt: \u2018My daughter didn\u2019t recognise me at the airport. I got very upset\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

What do you expect to happen when you die?<\/p>\n

I think people will be quite upset and will find it tough and challenging. I was only recently having this conversation with someone. I\u2019m not religious, but I do believe in something, although I\u2019m still struggling with what that could or might be. I don\u2019t believe in an afterlife, but I do like to believe there\u2019s something out there. I also think you need to believe in something to get you through those times when you\u2019re struggling or when you\u2019re faced with bigger challenges.<\/p>\n

When were you happiest?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m happiest after I\u2019ve done a show, and it goes well. There\u2019s a sweet point when you get off stage, and everything has gone well for you. You\u2019re proud of your performance. The crowd enjoyed it. You get good feedback from the audience. It\u2019s just such a sense of \u201cGo you, you\u2019ve done it!\u201d I always feel very proud of myself for doing that because it\u2019s not always easy getting up in front of so many people and putting yourself out there for good or bad reactions. Once you run off that stage and you know it went well, it\u2019s such an incredible feeling.<\/p>\n

Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life?<\/p>\n

It has to be someone Irish\u2026 Saoirse Ronan. I would like to think that she would do a fair job of it. She\u2019s very authentically Irish, and I feel that\u2019s what I resemble.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your biggest career\/personal regret?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have any regrets, so far, in my life, and I try not to. I feel that I\u2019m very good at grabbing opportunities, in that once I know it\u2019s the right move, a lot of the time I say \u201cyes\u201d to something before giving myself the time to opt out. I try to put myself out there and not give myself the time to get scared. I have that same attitude in my life. I certainly feel that I charge at life. My mom says I\u2019m not a very patient person, and that when I tick one box, I immediately say, where\u2019s the next box to tick? I\u2019m very determined and passionate about life. I love living.<\/p>\n

Have you any psychological quirks?<\/p>\n

Sometimes I can be weird about stepping on tiles and on cracks. I can be a little bit superstitious, but I don\u2019t know where that comes from. That would be the only quirk, I reckon. What would other people say? Maybe that I need to chill out a little bit! That said, I\u2019ve been told I\u2019m an easy person to get on with. My co-presenter on the radio is a guy called Jamie, and he says I make his life a lot easier. Not being a pain in the hole is always a nice thing to hear about yourself, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How agreeable are you? I don\u2019t think I\u2019m controversial as a person, because there\u2019s a bit of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[46,93,61,60,63248,976],"class_list":{"0":"post-394867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-cork","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-pat-shortt","13":"tag-weekendreview"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}