Parents got more than they bargained for when a presentation given by a priest at a primary school included some rather raunchy slides - of gay porn.

Father Martin McVeigh was setting up a slideshow for parents of children taking their First Holy Communion when the sexual images "inadvertently" appeared on the screen.

The audience, which reportedly included an eight-year-old boy, were left "horrified and distracted", according to the BBC.

The holy man is said to have quickly removed his memory stick from the hard drive and "bolted out of the room".

The meeting continued in the priest's absence, with McVeigh strolling back in 20 minutes after the cock-up to tell the parents they should encourage their children to donate money to the church.

The incident, at St Mary's Primary School in Pomeroy, Northern Ireland, is now being investigated by the child protection office of the Armagh Dioceses, the Ulster Herald reported.

McVeigh told the local paper: "I don't know how it happened but I know what happened."

The priest insisted he had no knowledge of the inappropriate images and said he expected the events could be "legitimately explained" by the investigation.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal Brady released a statement on Monday confirming the imagery was "inadvertently shown by a priest at the beginning of a Powerpoint presentation, causing concern to those present".

"This was immediately removed from the screen.

"The priest has stated that he had no knowledge of the offending imagery. He is co-operating with an investigation of the matter on the part of the archdiocese."