Mourners were told yesterday that Michael Cunningham (41) lived for his children and died trying to save the life of his 10-year old son, James.
The fitter with Iarnród Éireann and part-time farmer drowned last Monday in an apparent effort to save James after the boy had fallen into a disused quarry on farmland owned by Mr Cunningham near his old family home in Aylroe, between Kildysart and Labasheeda.
At St Senan's church in Clonlara, Co Clare, yesterday, parish priest Fr Brendan Cleary told mourners at the funeral Mass for the two victims that Mr Cunningham lived for his children and died trying to save his child.
Mr Cunningham, his wife Annette and their four children lived in Clonlara in south-east Clare for the past two years and Fr Cleary said yesterday: "Even though Michael and his family have only been in the community a short time, they've made a great impact on people, making an awful lot of friends and they are very highly thought of."
Due to the large crowds at the church yesterday, hundreds stood outside to hear Fr Cleary say on speakers that a representative of the President, Mrs McAleese, had telephoned and asked him to pass on the President's sympathy to the Cunningham family.
Fr Cleary said Michael and Annette were happy together. He added: "For Michael and James to go out in the morning and not come back is very hard to understand."
He described Michael "as a very quiet, unassuming person, who got on very well with his colleagues and was full of fun".
Fr Cleary said James was a shy boy who had made a lot of friends, having settled in very well in Clonlara and the local national school.
Fr Cleary said Michael loved his home at Coolmeen, Cranny, where he was born and reared.
He told the Cunningham family: "You will have as much support as humanly possible, not just for today, but from here on in."
The bodies of Michael and James were recovered last Monday by a group of sub-aqua divers from the midlands who had spent the Easter weekend in Kilkee.
The postmortems confirmed that the two had died from accidental drowning.
