UN pledges to share document with family of killed peacekeeper

Certain documentation about the incident which led to the death of Private Seán Rooney, which has not yet been shown to his family, will now be made available to them, the United Nations has said.

Private Rooney was killed while serving with UNIFIL, the UN mission in Lebanon, on 14 December 2022.

Two UN reports have since been completed into the attack on him and his colleagues, who were travelling in UN-marked vehicles which were set upon by an armed group near the town of Al-Aqbiya in Southern Lebanon.

Pte Rooney's family has been shown a redacted copy of one of the reports. However, with the second anniversary of his killing approaching this Saturday, they have yet to be shown the other.

The second report, referred to as a 'Board of Inquiry’ was completed in April 2023.

In recent days, RTÉ has sought to clarify the status of the document with the United Nations, and queried why it has not been shared with Pte Rooney’s family.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin had said in July 2024 a copy was "provided to Ireland for official use only."

"The United Nations have insisted that it may not be shared with third parties or made public in any form, either in whole or in part, and that the final report of the BOI will not be published," Mr Martin said in reply to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD, Ruairí Ó Murchú.

Officials in the Irish Department of Defence further clarified that the UN repeated that position twice in written correspondence.

Following queries, and in response to questions on the topic from RTÉ at the UN press briefing in New York yesterday, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary General said more information will soon be shared with Private Rooney’s family.

"We have provided quite a bit of information to [the Irish UN diplomatic mission] to pass on to the family of Private Rooney... I think there is more information in the pipeline, that will be shared," he said.

"Boards of Inquiry remain internal documents," he added, "it doesn't mean that at some point we can't... that some information that was harvested as part of that Board of Inquiry, cannot be shared with the relevant parties."

"That's what I [mean] when I'm telling you that more information is coming down the pipeline, I expect more information to be shared with the Irish Mission."

The Solicitor for Pte Rooney's family, Darragh Mackin welcomed the news from the UN that the information will be provided.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Mackin said that the UN had access to original exhibits and witnesses long before any other investigation, and the initial investigation happened almost immediately after the event.

Representatives of Pte Rooney's relatives called for the UN to provide additional documentation to them publicly as recently as October.

Several investigations into the attack on the UN-marked vehicle in which Pte Rooney was travelling are ongoing.

In Ireland, a senior counsel-led inquiry was launched in November, it is expected to take nine months to complete its work. A Defence Forces investigation has also been carried out, and an inquest is being undertaken by the Dublin Coroner’s Court.

As part of the inquest process, in recent months the coroner wrote to the United Nations requesting documentation.

The most recent hearing in the coroner’s court heard there was a lack of legal clarity about whether such documentation could be made available to the inquest directly, given the United Nations typically corresponds with nations through diplomatic channels.

Following that hearing, the legal representative for Pte Rooney's mother, Natasha McCloskey, and his other relatives said they were concerned and frustrated at the "failure of the UN" to engage with the coroner given that the UN is "the very people to campaign to protect life."

In Lebanon, a military court has indicted seven men for the attack. Only one of seven, Mohammad Ayyad, the main suspect, has ever been detained. He was subsequently released for health reasons.

At the most recent hearing in Lebanon about the attack in June, a lawyer for Ayyad said he could not attend as he was receiving treatment in a hospital in Toul, in the south of the country. The others accused were deemed fugitives, and the case put back for trial in absentia in February 2025.

Three other Irish soldiers were injured in the attack, most seriously Trooper Shane Kearney, who received significant head injuries and needed to be airlifted back to Ireland.

At the time of the most recent hearing in Lebanon, senior Irish government ministers raised concerns about slow progress in the case.

Since then, Israeli forces have entered Lebanon and hundreds of thousands of people have fled from the south.

Speaking about the ongoing investigations, Mr Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary General said "primary responsibility for investigating the killing of one of our colleagues, who was serving under the UN flag, remains with the Lebanese authorities".

"They are the ones responsible for bringing those responsible for his killing to account," he said.

"We will share with the Irish authorities as much information as we can, and there is more information forthcoming," he added.