Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

I appreciate the sentiment and the promises the Minister has made. It is very important that we engage with the Lebanese. They made a number of promises, first of all to do everything they could with regard to apprehending Mohammad Ayyad, who was found guilty of the murder of Private Seán Rooney, and to appeal those other cases. I do not think anybody within this entire building or anyone you were to talk to throughout Ireland would be happy with the results. Some of the sentences were particularly disgraceful. What is the update in that regard? If the Minister does not have it, perhaps I can get it in writing.
There is an engagement with the UN. Beyond that, we had the independent inquiry by Mr. Michael Delaney SC. Where is that at? It is vital that we have learnings from what happened to Private Seán Rooney, Trooper Shane Kearney and all those involved. We need to ensure that we have best practice, that we have truth and justice for the family, especially for Seán's mother, Natasha, and that we learn what we can from what was a dreadful incident. It would have been a lot worse had it not been for the bravery of Private Seán Rooney.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17