Arney native Fr D’arcy was the chief celebrant at the funeral of entertainer and comedian Brendan Grace who died on Thursday aged 68 following a short illness. 

Thousands of fans lined the streets of Dublin on Monday morning as mourners cheered and applauded as the coffin was carried into the Church of St Nicholas of Myra. 

Brendan Grace was well known for his comedy sketches and particularly for his role as Fr Fintan Stack in the hit TV show Father Ted. 

Fr D’Arcy said Grace’s legacy to the world would be one of goodness, laughter and generosity.

Speaking during the funeral service, Fr D’Arcy said “As long as a person’s memory lives and as long as we live, Brendan Grace will never die because all of us have enthusiastic, brilliant and long-lasting, life-lasting, and life-changing memories of the wonderful man that he was – the humanity of the man, the generosity of the man, the goodness of the man.”

The ceremony paid tribute to the comedian with a combination of wit, music, laughter and moments of sadness. 

Fr D’Arcy said ‘you went to a show and you laughed and you cried, and it’s the same today, we’ll grieve and we’ll laugh.’

”All of his vocation in life was quite simply, nothing more, nothing less than to lift the gloom of the nation and to lift the gloom of the people who came to see him,” he added.