Natasha Rooney, the mother of Sean Rooney, who fell in Lebanon while on a UNIFIL mission, has been granted the right to sue the United Nations by the Irish High Court, Irish media reported on Tuesday.
Sean, 24, was killed in an ambush while traveling to Beirut from southern Lebanon in a UN armoured vehicle in December 2022. He was one of eight soldiers making the journey, in two separate vehicles, to the Irish UN base Camp Shamrock located near Beirut Airport.
When the two cars separated, Sean’s detoured to the Lebanese town of Al-Aqbiyah where the group came under gunfire.
Rooney alleges that rather than send support to rescue her son, UN officials ordered soldiers at a nearby base to stand down rather than rescue the group. The officials were said to have believed closer peacekeepers would respond to the group under fire.
A military court, according to the Irish Independent, indicted seven men over the attack and found that all men had been members of Hezbollah or an affiliated group.
Hezbollah denied involvement in the attack.
Investigations into Sean Rooney's death
While the identities of all seven men are known to authorities, only one appeared before the court when he was summoned and was later released on medical grounds.
Investigations into Sean’s death are ongoing, and the family’s legal team has condemned a lack of available knowledge on the incident.
Rooney is now suing for the mental distress she said that she and her family experienced as a result of Sean’s death. Rooney has also issued proceedings against the Irish Defence Forces, the Irish Defence Minister, Ireland and Ireland’s Attorney General.
The UN is expected to face proceedings in Ireland.