Funeral of Private Seán Rooney takes place in Dundalk

The funeral of Private Seán Rooney has taken place at The Church of the Holy Family in Dundalk this morning. 

The 24 year old’s coffin was draped in both Irish and UN flags as it was taken from the house of his grandparents Eugene and Rachel across to the church. 

Parish Priest Derek Ryan opened by addressing the family and  acknowledging that: “Today is the most difficult of days” and how “no one in this community would ever have thought that your walk across Hoey’s Lane to come to your beloved church would be such a difficult walk.”

Fr Ryan spoke of how rooted Dundalk was in the tradition of peacekeeping, and how Private Rooney’s death had:

“[Pierced] the heart of his family and this close-hearted community, and even the town of Dundalk.”

He further spoke of meeting Private Rooney over a year ago before his first tour in Lebanon and being struck by his “maturity” and the love he had for his family and fiancee.

In a statement from Private Rooney’s fiancee Holly, read by Fr Ryan, she said that he would have been a fantastic husband and an even better father and that, “he believed I could do anything, he made me feel I could do anything."

At the end of the funeral Private Rooney’s mother Natasha, gave a eulogy and spoke of what a “wonderful and kind and loving” person her son was and how proud she was of him.

“I couldn’t put into words, there’s no words that are strong enough, there’s no words great enough, to express the love that I had for Seán and how proud I am of Seán.

“Seán was placed in my arms when I was 16 years old and he gave me purpose.

“I wanted to do better for Seán, I wanted to finish school for Seán, I wanted to go on to third level education for Seán, to buy my house for Seán and I wanted Seán to have a mother he could be proud of. 

“In his life he gave me purpose, in his death I will find new purpose.”

She continued: 

“I could stand here all day and tell you all the different nice things Seán has done for people.

“My pride as I look around at everybody here today for Seán, not just because of this, not because he is a national hero…” at this point the church broke into applause. She continued: “I am more proud of the kind and loving person that Seán was.”

“I will love you forever son, and I cannot wait to be reunited with you in heaven,” she concluded, to a standing ovation.

The funeral was attended by President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tanaiste Micheal Martin and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, Minister Simon Coveney and Minister Eamon Ryan.

Members of Private Rooney’s 27th Infantry Battalion formed a guard of honour outside the church.

The funeral Cortege will stop outside Aiken Barracks before travelling on to Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal for burial with full military honours.

Before his body left Beirut on a flight home, 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.