Tánaiste to meet Seán Rooney's mother after she said he shouldn't 'seek to speak for me'
Harris was asked for his reaction to
comments Private Rooney's mother Natasha made
yesterday, in which she said the Tánaiste should 'speak to me, before seeking to speak for me, in his public statements'.
Private Rooney was killed while serving as part of a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in 2022.
The shooting, near the town of Al-Aqbiya in the south of the country, a stronghold of militant group Hezbollah, resulted in the death of Private Rooney while Trooper Shane Kearney was badly wounded.
Earlier this week,
a Military Tribunal in Beirut convicted one main defendant, Mohammad Ayyad, of the murder of Private Rooney and sentenced him to death.
Advertisement
However, Ayyad, a member of Hezbollah, was absent from proceedings and he remains at large.
Natasha Rooney was scathing in her criticism of the Lebanese justice system and the light sentences given to Ayyad's accomplices.
'I'll be meeting Natasha next week,' Harris told reporters today.
'Natasha is a grieving mother fighting for justice for her son, who died while serving with absolute distinction wearing the uniform of Óglaigh na hÉireann.
'He has my absolute and total respect, as does his family, and I'll reserve any further comments until I engage Natasha directly.
'I know my officials did attend the military tribunal in Beirut last week, but I look forward to meeting Natasha and engaging with her directly next week.'
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Learn More
Support The Journal
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
8 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Hamas releases second video of Israeli hostage and says it will not disarm until Palestinian state established
Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established, as the group released its second video in two days of an Israeli hostage. Responding to one of the key Israeli demands to end the war in Gaza, Hamas – which has dominated the territory since 2007 – said it could not yield its right to 'armed resistance' unless an 'independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital' is established. Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel aimed at securing a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza war and deal for the release of hostages ended last week in deadlock. On Saturday, Hamas released a second video of hostage Evyatar David. In it, David is skeletally thin and is shown digging a hole, which, he says in the video, is for his own grave. Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods and aid into Gaza have led to severe shortages of food and other essentials, stoking international demands for a ceasefire. UN-backed food security experts said this week that the 'worst-case scenario of famine' is now playing out in Gaza. Hamas has included this issue in their hostage videos, warning that the hostages are going hungry alongside their captors and that time is running out for a ceasefire. In a statement, the family of David demanded that the aid that is now getting into Gaza thanks to renewed UN convoys and foreign airdrops must also reach their son. 'They are on the absolute brink of death,' his brother Ilay said at a rally in support of the hostages in Tel Aviv, where thousands gathered holding posters of those in captivity and chanted for their immediate release. People, holding banners and Israeli flags, stage a protest for an end to the war in Gaza and the return of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv. Of the 251 hostages taken during the Hamas attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Donald Trump's Middle East envoy on Saturday told families of hostages that he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would effectively end the war in Gaza. Steve Witkoff, who arrived in Israel as Benjamin Netanyahu's government faced global outcry over the devastation in Gaza and the starvation growing among its 2.2 million people, met the prime minister on Thursday. On Friday he visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Global outrage has grown over Israel's restrictions on aid and the deadly unrest surrounding the GHF sites, with daily reports of shootings at all four locations since the group took over aid distribution at the end of May. The UN says 859 Palestinians have been killed during that time in the vicinity of these sites, and more than 500 have been killed along the routes of food convoys. Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it is taking steps for more aid to reach its population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, airdrops and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. UN agencies have said that airdrops of food are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and quickly ease the access to it. Seven Palestinians died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, including a child, the territory's health ministry said on Saturday. This brings the total deaths among children from causes related to malnutrition in Gaza to 93 since the war began. The German government, traditionally a staunch ally of Israel, joined calls for Israel to deliver more aid on Saturday, saying that the current amount remains 'very insufficient'. France's foreign minister also called for humanitarian aid to be supplied to the people of Gaza in massive quantities, while also denouncing as 'despicable' videos of Israeli hostages held in Gaza posted by Hamas's armed wing. The Guardian
RTÉ News
9 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Aid group says Israeli attack killed staff member in Gaza
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said one of its staff members was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli attack on its Khan Younis headquarters in Gaza. In a post on social media platform X, the aid organisation said the fatality occured after "Israeli forces targeted the society's headquarters in Khan Younis, igniting a fire on the building's first floor". A video, which the organisation said "captures the initial moments" of the attack, shows fires burning in a building, with the floors covered in rubble. It comes two days after US envoy Steve Witkoff visited a US-and-Israeli backed aid station in the enclave to inspect efforts to get food into the devastated Palestinian territory. Nearly two years after the war began, UN agencies have warned that time is running out and that Gaza was "on the brink of a full-scale famine". The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said eight staff members from the Red Crescent, six from the Gaza civil defence agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees were killed in an attack by Israeli forces in southern Gaza in March. Mr Witkoff met the families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza as fears for the captives' survival mounted. He told the families in Tel Aviv that he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would effectively end the war in Gaza. Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with relatives of two hostages held in the enclave, who were seen in videos released by Hamas, to express his "profound shock" over the images, his office said. Since Thursday, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released three clips showing two hostages taken during the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel. The images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, looking emaciated after nearly 22 months of captivity, have sparked strong reactions among Israelis, fueling renewed calls to reach a truce and hostage release deal without delay. "The prime minister expressed profound shock over the materials distributed by the terror organisations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad," a statement from Mr Netanyahu's office said. It added the Israeli prime minister told "the families that the efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing and will continue constantly and relentlessly". In the footage shared by the Palestinian Islamist groups, Mr Braslavski, a 21-year-old German-Israeli dual national, and Mr David, 24, both appear weak and malnourished. Mr Braslavski and Mr David are among 49 hostages abducted during Hamas's 2023 attack who are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Most of the 251 hostages taken in the attack have been released during two short-lived truces in the war, some in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody. Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,332 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
Irish Independent
11 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Letters: Occupied Territories Bill is about morality, not economics
I believe that Ireland taking this stance sends out a powerful signal to the world that this country is adopting a strong line on what is happening in the occupied territories. One must not forget that some of the same arguments being posited by Mr Shatter were the same ones that were made against anti-apartheid measures and how this would have a negative impact on black people in South Africa. I am curious about what Mr Shatter has to say about the seven innocent Gazan children who were recently killed by the Israeli military while waiting for water at a distribution point. This is about morality, not economics. John O'Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary Criticism is far from being antisemitism Madam — Criticism of the state of Israel is not antisemitism. Alan Shatter's column repeatedly refers to the targeting of Jews, rather than Israel, so he can level accusations of antisemitism. The settlements he refers to have been declared illegal by the UN, but he suggests they should not be subject to sanction because there are Jews present. Religion should be a matter of personal choice, not state policy. Mark O'Hagan, Ballinacurra, Midleton, Co Cork Zionism is more like English plantation Madam — A more bizarre and ridiculous statement is hard to imagine than that made by Alan Shatter in your last edition: 'Zionism is nothing other than a belief in the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancient homeland. It is no different to the belief that the Irish people have the right to self-determination on the island of Ireland.' In the first and second centuries AD, the Romans drove out most of the Jews from what are today called Palestine and Israel. In the late 19th century, a sectarian, colonialist ideology was invented in the form of Zionism. This entailed Jewish plantation in Palestine and dispossession of Arabs of the lands where they had been living for almost two millennia. If a comparison is to be made with Ireland, it is not insultingly with the Irish freedom struggle, but rather with the English plantations that began here in the 16th century in an attempt to supplant the native Irish. The idea of an 'ancient homeland' of the Jews goes back to a situation that prevailed about 2,000 years ago and rests on a theological notion of a 'chosen people' in a 'promised land'. As for 'self-determination', that does not attach to a religion, but to a people living in a territory where they have been located for most of modern (and often medieval history), namely the Arabs in historic Palestine 'from the river [Jordan] to the sea'. Daltún Ó Ceallaigh, Rathmines, Dublin 6 Claims about Irish jobs are hysterical Madam — Alan Shatter has misinterpreted the Occupied Territories Bill, which will probably include services as well as goods. While the value of these is small, the purpose of the bill is to draw attention to Israel's illegal annexation in the West Bank, undermining the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. None of his proposed arguments are correct. The bill does not discriminate against Jews. The conflict in Gaza would not have ended if Hamas had released the hostages. In spite of Joe Biden's pleas, Benjamin Netanyahu declared all-out war. The passing of the bill would have no effect on Hamas. The enforcement of the bill is a matter for the Irish Government, but it must be passed regardless of the hysteria about its potential effect on Irish jobs. There will be no effect on jobs as countries invest only where it is advantageous to do so. Teresa Mitchell, Arklow, Co Wicklow Israel has terrorised Palestine since 1948 Madam — After reading Alan Shatter's column, I would like to point out that the war on Palestinians did not start after the Hamas outrage on October 7, 2023. It started with the Deir Yassin massacre of Palestinians in April, 1948, which led to the mass exodus of 430,000 Palestinians fleeing in terror. Israel has forcibly occupied, ethnically cleansed and practised apartheid against the Palestinian people ever since. Daniel Teegan, Listarkin, Union Hall, Co Cork Bill is an important symbol of resistance Madam — While Alan Shatter earned a serious reputation as a politician, his analysis of the Occupied Territories Bill is flawed. It fails to recognise the legislation as an important symbol of resistance in a world that turns a blind eye to killing and destruction on a scale that was never meant to happen again. Mr Shatter is eloquent in reflecting the Israeli narrative, but is unfortunately silent on the other side of the story. Richard Collis, Castleknock, Dublin 15 Irish women are ready to fight for trans rights Madam — John Boyne's article about JK Rowling ('An ode to my friend JK Rowling on her 60th birthday', July 27) refers to 'grown women' who support trans rights as being 'complicit in their own erasure' and likens our support of trans people to 'being ready to pin a handmaiden down as her husband rapes her'. Growing up in Ireland in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, I am one of the 'grown women' he refers to. I remember vividly the treatment of women who did not look or act as we were told we should; the vitriol with which queer people were spoken about and treated; the scorn and shame heaped on parents of gay people; the Aids epidemic; the Kerry Babies trial; and I remember Ann Lovett, dying cold, alone and terrified. The 'grown women' of Ireland remember very well what erasure and control and lack of bodily autonomy feels like,and it is for that very reason that we stand so passionately with the trans community today. Over 10,000 people marched for trans rights through the streets of Dublin. They, like me, simply want for the trans community what we want for ourselves — dignity, respect and the right to make medical decisions about our bodies in privacy with our doctors. Karen Sugrue, co-chair, Mammies for Trans Rights, Co Limerick Size of march shows where support lies Madam — On checking my diaries, I discover that I weighed just under 10 stone in 2015, at the time the Gender Recognition Act came into law. Far from being erased, as John Boyne would have it, there appears to be considerably more of me today. I wholeheartedly support the rights of transgender people to live their best, authentic lives, and, as a woman who has been a feminist since the 1970s, I know this does not affect my rights in any way. The 10,000 people who marched at Trans and Intersex Pride in Dublin last month would seem to agree. The 'greatest sin of our time' is not transphobia, but, as so often in our past, the failure to believe women when we tell you who we are. Bernie Linnane, Dromahair, Co Leitrim Boyne far removed from female minds Madam — John Boyne writes in support of JK Rowling and especially commends what he describes as her advocacy on behalf of women. He breezily dismisses her critics as being either middle-aged men, young people 'indoctrinated by social media' or dangerously misinformed women. According to Boyne, this last group is perhaps the worst. I wonder what makes Boyne such an expert, either on what women need or why so many of us disagree with Rowling's activism? Might he, too, be a middle-aged man taking out his frustration? Perhaps he should allow Irish women to think and speak for ourselves. Tracey Nutterfield, Newcastle West, Co Limerick Planning system works fine without Haughey-style fixes Madam — Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen presented us last week with his conviction that the Government needs to follow the questionable example of Charles Haughey when it comes to planning obstacles ('Say what you like about Haughey, he knew how to unblock planning — Cowen', July 27). I was one of those who appealed in the case that he gives as an example, a Midlands beef-chilling plant that was approved in 2019 and 'is still in the courts six years later'. We appealed in the common good because, chief among other problems, there was a critical question of river pollution with a large-scale abattoir and meat processing plant development. The Environmental Protection Agency was directed to give evidence in court regarding the stream that ran through the site. An Bord Pleanála conceded its case as the flaws in its arriving at granting planning permission became evident. We should all be grateful that the court system upholds the law for the common good. In this, the Banagher Chilling case, the court system allowed equitable consideration of the realities on both sides and facilitated the exposure of more than might otherwise have emerged. Desmond Kampff, Ballyeighter, Coolfin, Banagher, Co Offaly McEntee must not turn to usual suspects Madam — Helen McEntee has announced that she intends to hold a National Convention on Education, calling it the 'largest ever conversation on education since the foundation of the State'. I am delighted to hear this because I am deeply concerned by the direction being taken by the Department of Education, from the imposition of gender ideology to the introduction of inappropriate content in Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE). However, I am also concerned that those allowed to contribute to this conversation will be the usual suspects, namely the organisations funded by the Government to lobby the Government to put in place the things the Government wants put in place, to create the sort of society the Government wants and the sort of people the Government wants in it. Will the voices of ordinary parents be ignored, as they were during the 'consultation' on the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) review of RSE, with the NCCA drawing the conclusion: 'It was evident that a large number of online submissions arose through an organised campaign targeting members of the public.' Did it not occur to them that parents would not have availed of a template provided by a grassroots organisation that did represent their views if they had felt represented by the mostly government-funded organisations they knew would otherwise dominate the consultation? E Bolger, Dublin 9 Irish across world feel the pull of final Madam — Reading Tommy Conlon's fine piece on the great annual migration to Croke Park reminded me of one of my favourite moments during the All-Ireland final ('Get ready to witness our great annual migration', July 27). It's when the commentator throws a shout-out to those tuning in from far-flung places — Sydney, Vancouver, London. A nod, but one that says 'we know you're still with us'. In the 1970s, I joined a kind Kerryman called Jerry Cronin, a fire captain in Millbrae, California, as he headed off at 6.30am to a house in San Francisco's Sunset District. Forty of us would gather there in the basement to hear a match relayed via telephone: someone in Ireland held the phone to the radio and someone in San Francisco held another to the speaker system. Crude, but strangely heroic. Tommy Conlon was right to frame this as a great migration. But it's not just a movement across the Irish landscape — it's a deeper, older pull that crosses oceans and time zones. The GAA travels well, and long may it. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran, Co Armagh Conlon captured the magic of showdown Madam — I thought I had devoured all the columns on the All-Ireland football final last Sunday morning in your sports pages. But once again the best piece was Tommy Conlon in the main section of your paper. It was a pleasant and wonderful surprise to come upon this brilliant take on the similarity and diversity of the two counties. His paragraph imagining David Attenborough's take on affairs was right on the mark. John McCann, Co Donegal Are Healy-Raes the men of the match? Madam — At the All-Ireland football final, I could not help thinking about Shane Ross's column ('TDs get €275bn of camouflage for their special deals', July 27) and the joke about Michael Lowry extracting a promise from Micheál Martin that if Tipperary met Cork in an All-Ireland final, Cork would concede. As the Kingdom ran away with it last Sunday, I started to wonder if the Healy-Rae brothers won a similar arrangement for Kerry in return for their support for the Government. Thomas Garvey, Claremorris, Co Mayo Boring football in need of an overhaul Madam — Despite the new 'improvements' being trialled for men's Gaelic football, this year's All-Ireland was still boring and a hard watch. With nearly 500 hand passes and the over and back possession game outside the big arc, and players virtually unchallenged as one team kept possession, it was like two boxers refusing to engage. And to pay €100 to watch that. Instead of tinkering with the rules, is it time to go back to scratch and come up with a totally new game of football? Wasn't that what happened at the foundation of the GAA when 'Gaelic' football was invented? After nearly a century-and-a-half, is it not obvious the game that was invented is unsatisfactory and possibly irredeemable? If it's not possible to come up with a satisfactory new game, maybe the GAA would be better off using the resources devoted to men's Gaelic football to the further promotion of the genuine Irish game of hurling. After all, didn't Kerry win a senior hurling All-Ireland before they won a football one? Joseph Mackey, Glasson, Co Westmeath An Post gets a dire O'Connell reception Madam — An Post released a stamp last week to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Daniel O'Connell's birth. It depicts the Liberator resplendent in a gilded chariot being applauded by crowds in Sackville Street with the GPO in the background. The building opposite has a television aerial on its chimney. Ireland must have been way ahead of itself to have had TV 200 years ago. Maybe later this year when the statue of O'Connell is unveiled in Leinster House, they could place a satellite dish on top to show how much the country has progressed since his day.
