Minister for finance John Bruton wanted to withdraw Irish troops from peacekeeping in Lebanon in 1987 because Ireland was not being financially reimbursed sufficiently by the UN, writes Seán McCárthaigh

A RETIRED army private’s relentless effort to expose the truth about how his friends were killed has been credited by the men’s relatives as being the key to finally revealing what happened.

Relatives of Corporal Fintan Heneghan, Private Mannix Armstrong, and Private Thomas Walsh have finally, after more than 22 years, received apologies on behalf of the Army from Lieutenant General Seán McCann, the Chief of Defence Forces, and on behalf of the state from Alan Shatter, the Minister for Justice.

New information has sparked an independent review into the deaths of three Irish soldiers in the Lebanon 22 years ago.

A FORMER chief executive of the Garda Complaints Board will investigate how the Department of Defence and the Army treated the family of a young soldier killed in Lebanon six years ago.