First phase of Private Sean Rooney inquiry completed in Lebanon

The Department of Defence has confirmed that the initial phase of a Lebanese criminal investigation has been completed.

The findings of the first phase of an investigation conducted by Lebanese authorities into the killing of Private Sean Rooney have been passed onto the country’s state prosecutor.

Private Rooney was shot and killed in Lebanon last December following an attack on the armoured vehicle he was travelling in, in the southern part of the country.

This investigation had initially been undertaken by Lebanon’s military prosecutor, but has been transferred to the state prosecutor for the following stages of the inquiry.

Numerous separate investigations were launched into the 24-year-old’s death, when he became the first Irish military fatality since 2015.

These investigations were carried out with the involvement of the United Nations, An Garda Síochána and the Irish Defence Forces.

Due to the incident in which Private Rooney was killed occurring outside of UNIFIL’s (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) mandated area of operations, the Lebanese judicial authorities were instead tasked with launching this investigation.

However, a separate UNIFIL investigation was also opened and has already been completed. A redacted version of these findings was shared with Irish authorities in February.

The UN has also set up its own inquiry, which is still ongoing.

A multi-disciplinary team was also deployed to Lebanon by the Irish Defence Forces to further investigate the circumstances which led to Private Rooney’s killing.

Again, this operation is on-going, with the Department of Defence stating that “it is not possible at this stage to say when it will be concluded”.

A group of members from An Garda Síochána also aided the Irish Defence Forces in their investigation in meeting obligations set out by the State Coroner’s Service in Ireland.

Speaking on behalf of the Department of Defence, a spokesperson said that each of these individual investigations are “different in their objectives and are being undertaken according to their own protocols”.

*Feature Image courtesy of UNIFIL.

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