Martin lays wreath for Seán Rooney and other deceased Defence Forces soldiers in Lebanon
Private Seán Rooney's name enshrined on the monument at the Tibnine Memorial in southern Lebanon. Picture: Neil Michael
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has this morning laid a wreath at a memorial for Irish Defence Forces soldiers who have died serving in Lebanon, among them Private Seán Rooney.
Pte Rooney (24), who was shot dead last December, was recently added to the monument, which is in the southern Lebanon town of Tibnine where Irish UN peacekeepers used to be based.
Mr Martin was flanked by the Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sean Clancy, and Nabil Fawaz, the Mayor of Tibnin.
Also in attendance was Ali Saad, the director of the Tibnine Orphanage which has been heavily supported by members of the Irish Unifil contingent over the years.
Three wreaths were laid in memory of soldiers who have died previously.
When Mr Martin was last in Lebanon, he laid a wreath for soldiers who had died in service, including Private Billy Kedian, who died in 1999. Until PTE Rooney was killed in December 14 last year, the 21-year-old was the last Irish Unifil soldier to die in action.
This morning’s ceremony, which lasted about 15 minutes, was officiated by Fr Declan Shanahan.
After a minute's silence, a piper played the Piper's Lament.
This was followed by The Last Post, the Reveille and the National Anthem and the raising of the Tricolour.
After the ceremony, Mr Martin is due to meet local community leaders.
His visit is primarily to meet PTE Rooney’s colleagues, but he will also be meeting high ranking government and UN officials.
This morning, for example, he was due to meet UN Under-Secretary General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix.
Earlier, Seán Rooney was described as a “fine example of the best” who will never be forgotten by his camp commander.
Speaking at the Irish Defence Forces’ Unifil Camp Shamrock in southern Lebanon, Lieutenant Colonel Damien Murphy said: “I just want to say that Private Seán Rooney is a fine example of the best traditions and values of the Defence Forces.
“Prior to the incident, Seán was carrying out his duties to an excellent standard, a fine soldier on the second tour of duty here in Lebanon.
“During the incident as well, he carried out his duties to the best of his ability. We are very proud of Seán and his sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
The 24-year-old Dundalk native and his colleagues were just four minutes from the main highway into Beirut when their vehicle was fired on.
They had got separated from colleagues in another vehicle with which they had been travelling to Beirut on the night of December 14.
While the other vehicle took the right turn at a major junction off the old coast road onto Route 51, it is understood that Private Rooney's vehicle carried on straight on the Adloun section of the road.
A 31-year-old blacksmith, who was handed over to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) days ago, is alleged to have shot at Pte Rooney’s vehicle with a Kalashnikov.
He is also alleged to have admitted he was “the first to chase the UNIFIL vehicle from Sarafand to Al-Aqibiya”.
Video of the incident shows the Unifil vehicle swerving past a group of people near a junction of two roads leading out of the town of Sarafand at around midnight towards al-Aqibiya.
After the white Unifil-marked armoured jeep appears to collide with a parked car, it then drives up the main street out of the village on the Baissariye road towards Route 51.
As it leaves, a volley of shots can be heard being fired at and into the vehicle from behind.
It is understood two gunmen fired an estimated 50 bullets at the vehicle.
Moments later, it collided with a pylon, turned over and crashed into a shop.
It has since emerged that there was a similar roadblocking incident two weeks previously but it did not result in any casualties.
Al-Aqibiya, the southern Lebanon village where Pte Rooney was shot, is regarded as a Hezbollah stronghold.
Very quickly after the incident, a spokesperson for Hezbollah described it as “an unintentional accident between the local people and members of the Irish battalion”.
Exactly what happened has yet to be determined.
Unifil was due to release an interim report or statement but that has now been put on hold.
The finished investigation report has been sent to UN headquarters in New York.
It has yet to be released to the Irish government.
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