Members of the diving community and staff at the Co Galway diving centre where a 25-year-old Co Down man was drowned on Wednesday have spoken of their sadness at the incident.
Mr John Crozier, from Warrenpoint, was attending an orientation day with four friends at the Scuba Dive West centre in Renvyle near Clifden when he got into difficulty while in the water.
At about midday on Wednesday the group left for a day of diving, according to Mr Mike Strutt, an instructor at the centre. They were accompanied by a diving master and were diving to look at the moorings of a boat when Mr Crozier got into difficulty.
"As far as I know he did not descend. He looked very ill, and it was at that point that the diving master took him back to the beach", Mr Strutt said.
He was pronounced dead by a local doctor and was removed to University Hospital Galway. The result of the post-mortem held yesterday showed death was caused by drowning.
An inter-departmental committee on adventure sports has recommended the establishment of a statutory authority to govern the sector.
The Department of the Marine came under fire from the Fianna Fail TD, Ms Mary Hanafin, yesterday for not introducing regulations to govern the use of jet skis and other water craft. She was speaking after an accident on Sunday in which a young man died when his jet ski collided with a pleasure boat in Mullaghmore Harbour, Co Sligo.