LAST UPDATE | 25 Oct
TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS said he had a “sobering” meeting with the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati at Government Buildings in Dublin today.
The leaders are meeting after the outright conflict between Israel and militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon reached its one-month mark yesterday.
Thousands of Lebanese civilians have been displaced and killed by Israeli air strikes on the capital city of Beirut and in a limited ground invasions along the southern border as it continues its offensive against the militia.
Speaking after today’s bilateral meeting, Harris said he was saddened the meeting was taking place against the backdrop of the deteriorating situation in Lebanon.
Mikati, who had come from an engagement with French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, told the Taoiseach that he is extraordinarily grateful to the people of Ireland for their support and solidarity with the people of Lebanon.
Harris said he is conscious when speaking to the prime minister of Lebanon that there are over 300 Irish men and women serving with distinction in Lebanon as part of that UN peacekeeping mission.
“Their security, their well-being, their safety, is of absolute paramount importance to me, to the government, and I know to the people of Ireland,” said the Taoiseach.
Dozens of UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon have been injured in recent weeks after Israeli attacks on bases or threatened and ordered to leave the area. Peacekeepers have been forced to bunker down in bases as skirmishes take place outside observation posts.
Harris also raised the case of Private Sean Rooney with the prime minister, stating that he expressed his “deep dissatisfaction with the unacceptable delays” to legal proceedings.
He said he was clear with the prime minister that there can be no further delays.
The 24-year-old soldier, from Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, was killed while serving in Lebanon when his UN peacekeeping convoy was attacked in 2022.
The shooting near the town of Al-Aqbiya in the south of Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, resulted in the death of Private Rooney while Trooper Shane Kearney, 22, wsa badly wounded.
Harris said the delays in legal proceedings “is not fair” on the Rooney family.
He added that it is “not right” that the family, which has been met with such devastation, should have to wait for justice for such a long period of time.
The Taoiseach also condemned the attacks on densely populated areas in recent weeks, such as one in southern Beirut on Wednesday, where four Israeli strikes destroyed a residential complex in the Laylaki suburb.
He emphasised Ireland’s support for re-establishing the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 – the UN’s legally-binding ruling that demands a ceasefire between Israeli military and Hezbollah and establishes boundaries where neither faction can enter.
The Taoiseach said he remarked that Ireland knows “all too well” how important a political process and peace process can be.
He added that Ireland is a country that knows all too well about being taken into the clutches of a terrorist organisation and the hard yards needed to reach peace.
“We reflected on the fact that we look forward to the day we’ll be able to talk about the Irish-Lebanese relationship outside the context of war,” he said.
Speaking about the next cohort of Irish troops due to travel to Lebanon for the peacekeeping mission, Harris said he did discuss the rotation with the prime minister today.
“I did raise with the Prime Minister of Lebanon the importance when those rotations take place of there being absolutely no delays in relation to diplomatic clearance of planes or anything else that is required to safely rotate troops,” said Harris.
The prime minister assured Harris the rotation of Irish troops will receive absolute priority.
The Taoiseach said UNIFIL peacekeepers are protected by international law “and Israel needs to respect that. It is an absolute cornerstone of the United Nations”.
Asked whether there were any considerations being given to move Irish troops from certain bases, given the level of attacks from Israel, Harris said the situation continues to be monitored “on an extraordinarily regular basis” stating that all the decisions are guided by the security advice of the Chief of Staff to the Defence Forces.
“The advice at the moment in relation to the safety and security of our troops doesn’t necessitate movement, but that advice is monitored almost hourly and acted upon,” said Harris.
With reporting from David Mac Redmond and Christina Finn
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