Private Seán Rooney’s family have been reunited with his remains at Casement Aerodrome in Dublin this morning.
Sean Rooney’s mother, her partner, the young soldiers fiancee, his grandfather and three of his uncles who are serving members of the Defence Forces were there to meet the coffin carrying his body when it arrived back on Irish soil at 8.30 this morning.
His remains were accompanied on the flight from Beirut by a number of his colleagues from the 121st infantry battalion, including his company commander who never left Private Rooney’s side.
On landing the coffin was brought to a hanger where his family were afforded private time with his body before a short prayer service.
His body was then taken with a Garda escort to the city morgue in Dublin where a post mortem will be carried out by the state pathologist.
That will form part of the Defence Forces investigation into his killing, separate enquires are also being carried out by the UN and Lebanese authorities.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is confident they can find out what caused Private Rooney’s death:
