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.

Private Rooney’s loss is a shocking blow to his family, friends, and fellow soldiers, and tributes have been paid to the Donegal man since details emerged of the attack.

Ireland has been a member of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) since the late 1970s, which means the country in the eastern Mediterranean has been a destination for members of the Defence Forces for almost half a century. 

In that time, almost 50 Irish soldiers have lost their lives in Lebanon — more than any other nation in the UN peacekeeping group in the country — which shows how real the dangers are for peacekeepers there.

This fatality will inevitably lead to calls in some parts for a re-evaluation of Ireland’s continuing presence in Lebanon, but there can be no doubt that, through the Defence Forces, Ireland has made a significant contribution, and many of our troops have paid the ultimate price, in maintaining peace in the region.

In working with other nations to keep order in a conflict zone, Ireland is fulfilling the highest aims of the UN. The UN is often the target of criticism as a bloated bureaucracy, but the peacekeeping mission has made an important difference in the lives of many thousands of people in many parts of the globe.

It is an aspect of the UN’s mission that can be termed a success, which is not always a description which best describes the organisation’s activities.

That will be of little consolation to Private Rooney’s family in Newtowncunningham as they come to terms with the sudden passing of a loved one. How and why he was killed are questions which need to be answered, and those responsible must answer for their crimes.