Private Seán Rooney to be honoured at wreath-laying ceremony

Fallen soldier Private Seán Rooney will be honoured at a wreath laying ceremony in Newtowncunningham on Sunday.

Private Rooney was killed while on a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon last December.

The Irish United Nations Veterans Association (IUNVA) will remember Private Rooney on Sunday to mark the upcoming first anniversary of his death.

IUNVA Post 19 will hold a wreath laying ceremony this Sunday at 3pm with members asked to form up from 2.30pm at the car park of the Church of The All Saints.

In September, Private Rooney was honoured at the Cavalry Corps Remembrance Day. His family presented with the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Medal, following a formal parade and wreath laying ceremony at the Memorial Garden, Plunkett Barracks.

Private Eugene Rooney, Seán’s uncle serving with the 27th Infantry Battalion, received the medal on behalf of the family.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations established the Dag Hammarskjöld medal on December 2000 as a posthumous award to members of peacekeeping operations who lost their lives under the operational control and authority of the United Nations.

The 23-year-old Private Rooney was driving an armoured jeep when a UN peacekeeping convoy in which he was traveling came under attack in the south Lebanon town of Al-Aqbiya on December 14, 2022.

Mohammad Ayyad, the only person yet to be charged with the killing of Private Rooney, was released from custody last month having been handed over to the military 12 months ago by Hezbollah.

Ayyad appeared before a military court hearing in Beirut in August and admitted to firing a gun during the attack.

Four other men -  - Ali Khalifeh, Ali Salman, Hussein Salman, and Mustafa Salman - remain at large.

Earlier this year, the first military investigation Judge Fadi Sawan charged Ayyad with voluntary homicide and criminal conspiracy.

Private Rooney, a Dundalk native who had lived in Newtowncunningham for the past decade, became the 48th Irish soldier to die while on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. He was due to wed his fiancé Holly McConnellogue in August. His colleague Trooper Shane Kearney was seriously wounded in the attack.

In a recent response to a Parliamentary Question, the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin - who has been in Lebanon since the attack - said that he has ‘consistently expressed my determination that all of the facts and circumstances of the incident are fully established and that no stone is left unturned to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice’.