Tributes at removal of cancer surgeon Prof Aongus Curran

Further tributes have been paid to leading cancer surgeon Prof Aongus Curran (51), who lost his life in a boating incident on Lough Corrib at the weekend.

NUI Galway president Dr Jim Browne said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of Prof Curran's death, along with the "entire community" of the university which the surgeon had once attended.

Hundreds of people attended the removal service for Prof Curran, a father of five, at Oughterard church in Co Galway this evening.

‘Outstanding surgeon’

Medical colleagues have described him as an “outstanding cancer surgeon” who worked tirelessly for his many patients, and who set up the first rapid access clinic of its kind in the State.

Prof Curran’s body was taken from Lough Corrib on Saturday after an extended search as of Friday, when the boat he had been using was found empty and drifting.

The surgeon, who was attached to St Vincent's Hospital, the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, and University College Dublin, is survived by his wife, Noreen, five children, Tom, Aoife, Matthew, Mary, and Aongus Óg, his parents Bobby and Phil Curran, and siblings Fiona, Ruth, Niamh and Eoin.