RTE ranting Galway priest leaves parish

And it was these three congregations that heard Fr McInerney’s rant - which you can read in full below - heavily criticising RTE and Eurovision contestant Bambie Thug after they successfully won Eurosong and were put forward to represent Ireland in the song contest in 2024 with their song ‘Doomsday Blue’.

Bambie reacted to his sermon at the time saying that if they were “p***ing off the people who are stuck in an old mindset and not consciously involved then I am doing the right thing and feel good”.

But the people of Eyrecourt, Clonfert and Meelick will also remember a man whose “faith, service and friendship was an integral part of our parish community”.

Speaking after his final mass, Fr McInerney gave a heartfelt thank you to several people who had helped him during his 12 years there.

He said: “As I reflect on Sunday evening’s Mass and gathering in the hall, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who helped make the occasion such a memorable and special one. I was deeply touched by your kindness, generosity and support, and I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

“First and foremost, I wish to thank the organising committee for all the time, effort and care that went into arranging such a wonderful evening. Many thanks to everyone who was involved in preparing both the Mass and the gathering in the hall.

“Your hard work and attention to detail were greatly appreciated. I am very grateful to my fellow priests, Fr Brian, a friend of many years who travelled from Cork to be with me, and Fr Kieran, Fr Pat and Fr Michael, who concelebrated with me at the Mass. It was a great joy to share that special occasion with you.

“To my family, who travelled from Tipperary to be with me on the night, thank you for your love, presence and support. It meant a great deal to me to have you there. My sincere thanks also to the Sisters of the FMDMs along with Patricia and Linda, for their presence and support.

“I wish to acknowledge all those who contributed to the beautiful celebration of the Mass: our Eucharistic Ministers, Sacristans and Reader, and the children from both schools who led us in the Prayers of the Faithful, and the ladies who brought up the gifts. Your participation helped make the liturgy so meaningful and prayerful.

“A special word of thanks to our wonderful choir, who were exceptional on the night. Your music added so much beauty to the celebration. I also wish to thank Lorna on the flute for playing one of my favourite pieces of music. It was a lovely and very special touch.

“Thank you to everyone who cleaned and prepared the Church, ensuring that it looked so beautiful for the occasion. Your work may often go unseen and carried out quietly behind the scenes, but was greatly appreciated.

“I am grateful to Donal Burke for his kind words of appreciation on behalf of the parish, and to the Pastoral Council and Finance Committee for their support and kindness.

“My sincere thanks to Ms Treacy and Ms Kilmartin for the lovely presentation on behalf of the schools. It was a thoughtful and touching gesture, which I will treasure.

“I was also deeply touched by the wonderful presentation in the hall. Thank you all for your generosity and support. Your kindness means a great deal to me, and I will always be grateful.

“A special thank you to Carol, the Parish Secretary for all her help and support throughout my time here.

“To Michael Riddell photographer on the night many thanks for capturing the special moments at the Mass and the gathering in the Hall. As I look back on my 12 years in this parish, I do so with great affection and gratitude. It has been a privilege to serve as your Parish Priest, and I will always treasure the memories, friendships and experiences of my time among you. I have been blessed to share so many important moments in the life of this community, and I will carry those memories with me wherever I go.”

He finished by saying: “Thankfully, New Inn and Bullaun are only a short distance away, so I am sure our paths will cross again, and I look forward to meeting many of you in the future. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Fr Kieran every blessing and every success in his new role as Parish Priest. He is coming to a wonderful community of people, and I know he will receive the same warmth, kindness and support that you have shown me over the years. I ask you all to give him your continued encouragement and prayers as he begins this new chapter.

“Once again, to everyone who helped in any way with the organisation of Sunday evening’s Mass and gathering in the hall, and to all who attended and shared in the occasion, please accept my heartfelt thanks. Your presence, generosity and kindness made the evening truly memorable.

“May Our Lady of Clonfert watch over you, guide you and bless you all. With sincere gratitude and every good wish, Fr Declan.”

Speaking to the congregation about Bambie Thug at a mass in February 2024, Father McInerney said: “Now brace yourselves my friends for this one, I switched on and to discover it was the selection process for Eurosong, a song that will leave Ireland, that will represent Ireland and the Irish people - and what we are all about, my friends.

“And all I can say is we are finished. We are finished as a country. And before anyone jumps on their high horse and go, ‘he's giving out now about certain orientations’. I couldn't give two continental hoots what anybody is but I don't need it slammed in my face on the Late Late Show.”

“Whatever hope RTE has of getting any one of us to pay a licence has certainly now, for me, gone out the window.

“I never watched such rubbish in all my life. Starting with song number one. Now there will be a backlash, do I care? Not at all.

“So we come on then to song number two, which I'm sure was your favourite. And I watched the opening intro of this one walking around the streets of Macroom down in Cork with a beautiful cape.

“But it wasn't just that, ‘I said look it, I am open minded, she dresses like this. That's fine.’

“And I'm sure she's a beautiful person until the name was dropped that Bambie Thug will now be the one to sing song number two and I said ‘Jesus here we go again. Bambie, what’s this one going to be like?’

“But I want you to listen carefully to what my opinion is. I don't care what she dressed like, but on her back… there was a slogan and I said to myself, ‘is this what we need now to win the Eurovision’?

“Do we need somebody now to shove this orientation in our faces to get votes. And she spoke about you know that she is neither here nor there - adults who know what I'm talking about. She's sort of somewhere in the middle… binary, non-binary I can't get my head around. It reminds me of bale, hay or straw. But that's okay too. I have no problem.

“But I'm just saying to myself, is this what we need for our young people to be seen at such a young age? And a mother came to me during the week, in fact, at one of the funerals and she was quite distressed about a new program that's coming in next year into the secondary schools in relation to all of this relationships, sexuality and all of that.

“And she's very concerned about first years learning such stuff. Well, I will tell you if I had a son or a daughter, they wouldn't hear anything about it until they're 18.

“Down right to nearly Junior infants, you might hear in the schoolyard when you're this and you’re that and where are they hearing it? I hope not in the family home, but they are certainly hearing it on the television. The programs are not suitable for children of a certain age. And then we have to have Bambie going around in her cape telling us what she is and what she stands for.

“Thankfully, on social media, I would say 99% of the comments agree with me but a few are saying we live in a modern Ireland. Well God help modern Ireland if this is what the people of Europe think that we are like.

“I know people will say that lad is old fashioned, but what was wrong with Dana and All Kinds Of Everything. What was wrong with Johnny Logan and Hold Me Now? What was wrong with poor aul Linda Martin who was trampled twice over to win the Eurovision with Why Me?

“Well I find myself this morning asking myself why me? Why am I having to mention this? I think, my friends, that as parents especially, and I'm going to say it again, will you shelter them a little bit more.

“They're exposed to too much at too young of an age. And they were certainly exposed to this on Friday night. If we can only come up in a world or an Ireland that is so creative, both music, dance, culture and history.

“And the six songs that were presented were complete and utter rubbish because we now have to send something that shows something that we are different. My dear friends, there's nothing wrong with being ordinary. There's nothing wrong with being who you are. But you don't have to trumpet it from the world. I don't have to go around with a flag out my window, ‘The priest is coming.’”

“We don't see farmers going around in the New Holland tractor was a big flag, ‘I am a farmer.’ We don't see the teachers arriving to school, up the crossroads there, ‘I am the teacher.’

“Be who you are, but you don't have to make a song and dance about it. Speaking of song and dance the poor divil Bambie Thug who we're sending over she can neither sing nor she can dance so we're finished from word go. Patrick next year, you and I are writing a song and we're going to Europe.

“So I'm afraid my friends, I won't be booking any ticket to Malmo in Sweden this year. And whatever Bambie votes she gets. I wish her well,” he added.