Tragic Pte Sean is remembered

PRIVATE Sean Rooney, who was killed in Lebanon, was honoured at the opening of yesterday's conference.

- DANNY DE VAAL 

The 23-year-old was shot in the head as he drove an armoured jeep away from the crowd of attackers in December.

He became the 48th Irish soldier to die, keeping the peace in Lebanon in the Defence Forces' 44-year mission to the war-torn country - but was the first to lose his life in more than 20 years.

One of the three other soldiers in the jeep, Cavalry Trooper Shane Kearney from Cork, also suffered several fractures to his skull when the United Nations vehicle was overturned following the shooting.