1D's Niall says sorry for swearing

One Direction's Niall Horan has apologised for swearing at his fans.

The 18-year-old Irish boyband star was filmed on a mobile phone using foul language as he greeted fans at Dublin airport on his return home on Monday, and the video was later uploaded to YouTube.

Niall walked past a group of girls waiting for him and said: "Remember the last time I walked out here? You shower of ****s."

But the fans didn't appear to be offended and continued to talk to him, requesting a 'Happy birthday' message for a friend which he gave into the camera with a thumbs up.

Niall has since apologised on Twitter for his use of the expletive.

He said: "Really sorry if I caused any offence. It was just banter with fans who I think of more as mates.

"But I understand that it's not a word I should be using at all."

The fans who uploaded the video also leapt to his defence, describing his expletive as "banter".

One Direction's publicist Simon Jones also defended the singer, telling the Irish Sun the comments were "clearly a joke".