Tanaiste Micheal Martin is to travel to Lebanon to push for progress in the trial of those who killed Donegal soldier Private Sean Rooney.
Private Rooney, who spend some of his teenage years living in Newtowncunningham and attended St Eunan’s College, was killed on December 14, 2022.
The Fianna Fail leader is now set to hold face-to-face talks with Lebanese government Ministers to discuss the case.
Five men have been formally charged over his murder but only one man, Mohamad Ayyad, was placed in custody and he has now been released on bail.
Ayyad has confessed to shooting Pte Rooney (24) in the head with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in the incident in the village of Al-Aqbiya in which Trooper Shane Kearney (22) suffered serious head injuries.
The four other accused have been named as Ali Hassan Khalifa, brothers Ali Hassan Suleiman and Hussein Hassan Suleiman, and Mustafa Hassan Suleiman.
Lebanese judicial authorities have alleged the five men formed a gang to carry out an attack on the UN armoured jeep that Pte Rooney was driving.
The men were charged in June last year – but there is no sign of their trial starting and Mr Martin, who is Minister for Defence as well as Foreign Affairs, yesterday expressed his frustration at that.
Speaking at the conference in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan of PDFORRA, the body that represents non-officer personnel in the Defence Forces, the Tánaiste said he would be raising Pte Rooney’s case on his visit.
He said: “We’ve retained concern about that and in fact I’m going to Lebanon at the weekend.
“And I will be raising that case and the need to progress the case and the need to get justice with the Lebanese government and with ministers in the Lebanese Government.
“It’s one of the focal points of my visit as well as visiting our Defence Forces and members of the Defence Forces who are now operating in a very challenging and much more difficult environment than heretofore because of the war on Gaza and the escalating tensions along the blue line and between Israel and Hezbollah.
“And so I’ll be there at the weekend to really make our views known in terms of progressing the case into the murder of Private Sean Rooney.”
When asked what his concerns were, he replied: “I don’t want to comment too much, the court case is still underway but we’d certainly like it progressed, and we’d like those ultimately who are convicted to be brought to justice.”
