Preliminary inquest hearing into soldier Seán Rooney's Lebanon death held partly in private

Private Seán Rooney of Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, was killed in Lebanon in 2022 while serving with a UN peacekeeping mission. File picture

A preliminary hearing of the inquest into the death of Irish soldier, Seán Rooney, in Lebanon over three years ago has been held partly in private to discuss matters which the Defence Forces claim are “extremely sensitive” security issues.

Pte Rooney, aged 24, from Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, was killed while driving an armoured jeep on Unifil peacekeeping duties in Lebanon on December 14, 2022.

The deceased, who was attached to the 27th Infantry Battalion at Aiken Barracks in Dundalk, Co Louth, suffered fatal gunshot wounds after his UN convoy was attacked by armed militia linked to Hezbollah.

At a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Thursday, chief coroner Myra Cullinane said that the attorney general had been put on notice that some of the preliminary stage of the inquest might be held in private “to deal with certain matters” and that there had been no objection to that proposal.

Counsel for Pte Rooney’s family, Seán Guerin, said he wished to point out that it did not mean his clients were consenting to a private hearing about any other matter and they wanted any proceedings about the scope of the inquest to be heard in public.

Soldier Seán Rooney's mother, Natasha, and her husband, Paul. Picture: Collins Dublin

Dr Cullinane replied that she was also of the view that as much of the case should be heard in public as possible.

A solicitor for The Irish Times, Matthew Austin of Hayes Solicitors, said the coroner’s court should be vigilant not to allow any restrictions on reporting by the press beyond “anything more than absolutely necessary.”

However, Dr Cullinane observed that she has no statutory powers to impose reporting restrictions.

She said the purpose of holding the preliminary stage in private was simply to establish any sensitive issues to be heard in private.

The coroner then ruled that all but legal representatives, members of Pte Rooney’s family including his mother, Natasha McCloskey, and instructing Defence Forces personnel should be excluded while the issues which the Defence Forces want to be heard in private were outlined.

After a private hearing lasting about 30 minutes, Dr Cullinane said she would hold another hearing of the preliminary stage on April 23.

The coroner said some of it would be held in private if required but she expected it would be “largely held in public”.

At a previous hearing of the inquest in 2024, counsel for the Defence Forces, Remy Farrell, claimed there was heightened concern with security aspects of some information given the current situation in Lebanon, if it became known to “outside actors”.

A lawyer for the deceased’s relatives has also called for the inquest to address the “noxious narrative” that Pte Rooney took a wrong turn before the fatal incident.

The family has questioned how a 24-year-old with no UN driving licence had been allowed to be 13-16km from his convoy on a route not taken before.

Pte Rooney and several colleagues were just a short distance from the main highway into Beirut when their armoured vehicle was fired on near the southern Lebanese village of Al-Aqbiya.