Irish Examiner view: Peace often comes at a terrible cost

All of Ireland is mourning Private Seán Rooney and praying for Trooper Shane Kearney. The whole world owes its gratitude to them, their injured colleagues, and all our peacekeepers

Members of the Irish Defence Forces — pictured here on the Lebanon-Israel border in 2019 — have served with the Unifil peacekeeping mission for almost half a century. File Picture: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP/Getty

The killing of an Irish peacekeeper in an ambush in Lebanon serves as a stark reminder of the risks faced by members of the Defence Forces while on duty with the UN.

Private Seán Rooney, 23, was killed when his convoy to Beirut came under fire on Wednesday. At the time of writing, Trooper Shane Kearney, 22, from Killeagh, East Cork, was in a critical but stable position, having suffered serious injuries in the attack. Two more colleagues suffered minor injuries.