Hearings being held in advance of the inquest into the death of Irish soldier Pte Seán Rooney are being held in camera to protect the safety of members of the Defence Forces, the Dublin District Coroner’s Court has heard.
Rooney (24) was killed in an attack on a convoy of Irish peacekeepers on a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) deployment on December 14th, 2022. His inquest is due to begin on November 17th and expected to last about three weeks.
A number of preliminary hearings have taken place at the coroner’s court in recent months that were held largely or fully in camera, meaning the media could not attend.
On behalf of The Irish Times, Matthew Austin, instructed by Hayes Solicitors, made a submission querying why these hearings were held in private.
Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane on Thursday said certain hearings were held in camera “to deal with sensitive issues where it was understood that public broadcast of those issues was not in the interest of the safety of the Defence Forces”.
Hearings in April, May, June, July and three in October, including Thursday’s hearing, were held partially or fully in camera.
Cullinane said this was necessary as the various parties tried to reach agreement “on what would be heard at the inquest proper in public and where it might still be necessary ... to hear certain elements [in camera]”.
The next preliminary hearing in the case is due to take place on November 6th.
Cullinane said she hoped “final matters around sensitive issues” and practical arrangements for the full inquest could be made on this date.
She said two witnesses due to give evidence at the inquest might need to be anonymous, so the manner in which evidence would be given and questioned needed to be finalised.
The Defence Forces previously argued that “extremely sensitive” information being made public during the inquest would elevate operational risks to personnel deployed to the Unifil mission, which is due to wind down in the coming months.
At a hearing in July, that was partially in camera, it was confirmed Rooney’s family was seeking to address the “conduct” of the military and Garda investigations into his death.
Rooney, who was from Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, was killed when his armoured vehicle was ambushed as it drove north through Al-Aqbiya, a town controlled by the militant group Hizbullah.