The woman diver who drowned off the Donegal coast on Saturday has been named locally as Ann Haurded, 41, a single woman from Manchester in the UK.

The local priest paid particular tribute to the Malin Head Coastguard Station which coordinated the search and recovery, insisting that it highlighted once again the importance of retaining the service in Donegal and the North-West.

"It just shows how vital this service is and why it should be kept on. The response from them was rapid and ensured that the search got underway very quickly," claimed Fr. Duffy. "The fight must go on to keep it going."

Commenting that the local community was "numbed" by the tragedy which brought back memories of other tragedies over the years, he also pointed to the involvement of the Arranmore Lifeboat service, some of whose members had been attending a First Holy Communion ceremony on the island and had to leave their families to take part in the search operation.

The Bunbeg Coastguard was also praised along with divers from the Garda Sub-Aqua team and from Northern Ireland and Louth who travelled to join in the search for the missing woman.

"There was a tremendous level of community spirit shown by everybody involved," said the island's curate who revealed that he had announced a special rosary at Saturday evening mass to pray for the recovery of the diver and around 150 local people had turned up at the lighthouse to take part in the ceremony.