Legendary songwriter and broadcaster Shay Healy has launched a scathing attack on the "low down, dirty rotten, low life thug" whom he says stole his Eurovision winner's trophy from his Dublin home.
The 74-year-old won the trophy for writing the 1980 winning entry What's Another Year, sung by Johnny Logan.
In a Facebook post, Healy said the trophy was taken from a glass shelf in his bathroom.
"Some low down, dirty rotten, low life thug, some audacious, irreverent, disrespectful and rude ass***e, has stolen my Eurovision Trophy", he wrote.
"Who would steal such a thing?" he continued. "It's not like it was any great shakes as a piece of art. It was a clear plastic multi layered ornament that had a gold coin floating in the interior of it.
"Is there some young fellow in his bedroom standing in front a mirror with a hairbrush in his hand pretending he's Johnny Logan, while my precious award sits on his mantelpiece forlorn and bereft of its proper home?"
Healy and his wife recently sold their house and he told RTÉ that there was "a steady stream of people going through the house for a couple of weeks".
He said he suspects that someone took it "as a gag" and has now issued an appeal for return of the trophy, which he said was all that he received for winning the contest.
"If you have it somewhere and it's tucked away...send it back to me. Put it in an envelope and send it to RTÉ and hopefully it'll be back in the bathroom before you know it."
The songwriter appeared on The Late Late Show back in December and won widespread praise for his performance of Stardust and his honesty in discussing his struggle with Parkinson's disease.
The former Nighthawks host disclosed that "I can't do simple things like tie my laces anymore".
