Seán Rooney inquest may take longer than three weeks, court hears

The inquest into the death of Pte Seán Rooney may take longer than three weeks, 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.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane on Friday asked Seán Guerin, representing the Rooney family, and Remy Farrell, representing the Defence Forces, if the proposed three-week timeline was realistic.

Guerin said the time frame was “reasonable” but there was still a “degree of uncertainty” over how long the inquest will last. He suggested informing the jury it may take up to four weeks.

Det Insp Damian Gannon said “good progress” had been made empanelling the jury, but members were told the inquest would last three weeks, so they would need to be informed of the possible extension in order to check their availability.

Cullinane said the latter stages of the inquest would be held “coming into the Christmas period”, so people’s availability may become more limited, noting she was not available from December 10th onwards.

All parties agreed it was reasonable to tell jury members the inquest may last up to four weeks.

A number of preliminary hearings have taken place at the coroner’s court in recent months, held largely or fully in camera, meaning the media could not attend. Friday’s hearing was primarily held in camera.

Cullinane last month said certain hearings were held in private “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”.

Certain parts of the inquest are also expected to be held in camera.

On Friday, the coroner said she will write to all parties on November 10th to inform them of what material can be submitted as evidence. Cullinane said the jury will be given relevant documents on tablets, rather than in paper form, “because they are so voluminous”.

Noting the interest in the case, Cullinane said there is “limited space” in the courtroom, but a Zoom link will be made available for members of the public who wish to watch proceedings.