Declan Donnelly has paid an emotional tribute to his brother, Father Dermott, as he was laid to rest in Newcastle today.
Fr Dermott died on July 8, 2022, aged 55, following a serious illness. He had recently celebrated 30 years of service to his parish and community after being ordained a Priest on June 27, 1992.
During a moving Requiem Mass held at St Mary's Cathedral in Newcastle, Dec struggled to hold back the tears as he said farewell to his brother with a loving tribute. He described Fr Dermott as " very calm, very sensitive and very protective of us all" and said he will be missed " immeasurably".
Read more: Respects paid to Father Dermott Donnelly at moving Newcastle funeral
The 46-year-old TV presenter thanked people for their thoughts, prayers and wishes on behalf of the Donnelly family, before reflecting on their childhood growing up in Cruddas Park, in Newcastle's West End.
Dec recalled how his brother would comfort him when he would become worried about monsters under the bed or vampires in the closet.
He said: " We were brought up a stone's throw away from here, up the road in St. Michael's Parrish in Cruddas Park where we shared a three bedroomed house. Four boys in one room, three girls in the other and mam and dad in the smallest room in the middle of us two to stop us fighting.
"Dermott and I, being the youngest boys, were assigned to the bottom bunk beds and on the occasions where my five or six-year-old overactive imagination created monsters under the bed or vampires in the closet I would run out of my bed and jump into Dermott's bunk and he would calm me down in the middle of the night with stories that he invented like Mousey Brown, the not-at-all famous mouse detective.
"He was very calm, very sensitive and very protective of us all."
Dec added: "It wasn't a rare sight to see him wandering around the house at night in his underpants, switching off all of the sockets before he went to bed. Not just switching them off but putting his hand over them for 10 seconds to make sure no sparks flew out and there wasn't a fire."
Fr Dermott and Dec were two of seven children born to parents Anne and Alphonsus Donnelly. Dec recalled how Fr Dermott's desire to be a priest came as a surprise to the family, although not so much to Anne.
He added: "She remembers when he was a lot younger when a lot of the other children were playing doctors and nurses or soldiers, Dermott wanted to play mass."
Dec went on to relay memories of the school Summer holidays when the family would travel down to Upholland College, in Skelmersdale, near Liverpool, where Fr Dermott studied to become a priest. He added that trips to the college became family days out "with sandwiches on the go and a big bottle of dilutey pop in the Opel Kadett."
Dec, who helped to carry Fr Dermott's coffin into the cathedral, also spoke with pride about his brother's service to his faith and his determination to inspire the lives of young people by establishing the Youth Ministry Team (YMT) and the Youth Village in Consett, a outreach programme aimed at introducing disadvantaged youngsters to the Catholic Church.
Dec said: "Dermott had big dreams, he dreamed of building a place where young people could come and feel like they belonged and feel like they were appreciated for their worth and he always loved the quote by George Bernard Shaw, the one that says 'You see things and say why, but I see things that never were and say why not'."
Struggling to hold back the tears, Dec concluded his speech by saying how much he will miss his brother.
He said: "Unfortunately today our world is a slightly worse place because Dermott is no longer with us. He still had so much more he wanted to do, so many more lives he needed to influence, inspire and change and we can't believe he's gone.
"We still can't understand why he's gone. But we trust that God has took him because his talents were needed elsewhere.
"We as a family, and of course many, many others will miss him immeasurably. Rest in Peace Derm."
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