TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to a 15-year-old boy who drowned while getting into difficulty while swimming in the Grand Canal in Co Kildare at the weekend.

He has been named locally as Max Shields (15), a third-year student at Colaiste Chilliain in Clondalkin in County Dublin. It is believed Max was a native of Newcastle in West Dublin.

Locals said Max was a ‘’lovely lad who absolutely loved fashion’’.

Paying tribute a friend said ‘’I can’t believe the news max…I can’t believe you’re gone. I’ll forever cherish our memories together and I will never forget about you. I can’t believe we were having so much fun the other day and now it has come to this’’.

Locals were comforting Max’s distraught family over the weekend. No funeral arrangements have been made as of yet.

A statement from gardaí said that at about 5.40pm on Saturday May 11th, gardaí became aware of a person struggling in the water in the Grand Canal between Ardclough and Celbridge in Co Kildare.

A number of emergency services attended the scene and the body of a male youth in his teens was recovered from the water a short time later.

The local coroner has been notified, and arrangements were put in place for a postmortem which has since taken place. It is believed the incident is being treated as a tragic accident.