Body of Private Seán Rooney arrives home in Ireland

The body of Private Seán Rooney has returned to Ireland this morning after being repatriated from Lebanon.

The Air Corps plane carrying the deceased peacekeeper landed in Dublin at around 8:30am.

The 23-year-old’s remains left Beirut Airport yesterday afternoon after a solemn UN ceremony was held to honour the soldier ahead of his journey home.

Private Rooney, from Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, was killed on active service when his convoy came under attack in Lebanon last week.

Before leaving Beirut, Pte Rooney was awarded a number of honours posthumously, including a peacekeeping medal from the UN and an appreciation medal from the Lebanese armed forces.

A short prayer service was held after his body was returned to his family at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, Dublin. A white coffin draped in the tricolour was carried out of the plane by a number of pall bearers.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Micheal Martin stood beside the landing strip.

The white coffin, draped in an Irish tricolour, was driven away in a hearse accompanied by a Garda escort shortly afterwards.

Details of Pte Rooney’s funeral have yet to be announced.

Pte Rooney was part of 121st Infantry Battalion, comprising 333 Irish troops, which was deployed in November to south Lebanon as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil).

Fianna Fail Councillor Wayne Harding has paid tribute to the young soldier, he said:

"My deepest condolences to the family, friends and comrades of private Sean Rooney who trained at the army camp in Gormanstown. The country has enormous respect and gratitude for those who serve in our armed forces and when a soldier dies in the line of duty the country as a whole feels the loss. Like so many of his comrades Private Rooney comes from a family where there is a tradition of service in his family.

"My sympathy to all his family. It has been reported that Private Rooney was a model soldier and the heartbreaking pictures that have been on the front pages of our national papers shows a perfectly polished pround young man in his military uniform. It is a reminder to us all of the bravery of these young men and women and the dangers they face on a daily basis. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h'anam dílis."

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he is confident that the investigations into the circumstances of Pte Rooney’s death will establish what happened.

“There are three investigations underway to work out what happened. One led by the UN, one led by our own Defence Forces, and one led by the Lebanese Government. They may take a little bit of time and it is important that we understand why this incident occurred, why an Irish soldier lost his life and another was severely injured,” he said.

“I would have confidence in those investigations to find out exactly what happened."