Community's anguish at father and son's drowning

A community pledged tonight to rally around a mother and her three sons after her husband and 10-year-old boy died in a tragic quarry accident.

Michael Cunningham was killed in a last ditch effort to save his drowning son who had plunged 20 feet from a quarry cliff on family farmland in west Clare.

The 41-year-old leapt into the lake at Labasheeda in a bid to rescue his young son James who slipped on stones and fell into the water.

The pair had been herding cattle with relatives at the quarry near the Shannon estuary around 50 miles from their home in Clonlara, east Clare.

Father Brendan Cleary, Parish Priest in Clonlara, said local people had already shown their wish to help the family in any way they could.

“They will rally around as they did before and they will help out in whatever way they can. They are that type of community,” Fr Cleary said.

“It is a growing parish but it is still a local community at the same time, and one that will support each other.”

Fr Cleary said the father of four boys had returned to his family farm for the Easter weekend to visit relatives.

John Mashen McInerney, Clare county councillor, said the family were relatively new to the area but that the local community had been devastated by the news.

“It’s an absolute tragedy,” he said. “The whole place is just stunned and it’s so sad. The people really don’t know what to think.”

The parish priest said the family had moved to Clonlara from Corbally near Limerick a couple of years ago.

James, a pupil at St Senan’s School in the town, and his father were pronounced dead at the scene at around 7.30pm last night.

Fr Cleary said prayers would be offered for the family at daily Masses ahead of the funeral.

Their bodies were recovered around an hour later by divers from Kilkee Search and Rescue and members of an Athlone sub-aqua club who were training in the area.

The father and son were taken to Limerick Regional Hospital for post mortem examinations.