Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea has apologised to the family of a Donegal soldier who died in contentious circumstances while serving with the United Nations in Lebanon.
Private Kevin Barrett (20) from Rathmullan died of a single gunshot wound to the head in 1999. He had been serving in an outpost at Brashid in south Lebanon with Irish Defence Forces as part of the 84th infantry battalion.
The shooting occurred at 12.30 a.m. in the post's sleeping accommodation. Two other soldiers were sleeping in the room at the time of the shooting.
The Defence Forces issued a statement at the time saying they were treating the incident as "an accidental shooting with no other person involved".
However, his family have dismissed suggestions that he had taken his own life.
An inquest last month into Barrett's death recorded an open verdict.
Mr O'Dea met the dead man's mother, Helen Barrett, in Leinster House last night. A spokesman for Mr O'Dea told ireland.comthe minister "apologised to her for the trauma and upset" caused by her son's death and the ensuing investigation.
He also promised Mrs Barrett that he would establish an independent inquiry into the death. However, the minister said the exact nature of that investigation would not be decided until he had studied the full transcript of the inquest once it became available.
Mrs Barrett said after the meeting she was happy that progress had been made in her bid to find the truth about her son's death.
Fine Gael's defence spokesman Billy Timmins welcomed the ministerial apology but said a full Garda inquiry was still needed.
"In addition, the Minister for Defence should also look at the practices and procedures which were observed by the Defence Department following the death of Private Barrett," he said. "No other family should ever have to deal with the obstacles that Mrs Barrett faced following the tragic death of her son whilst on UN service."
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/e8fa4512-dd7b-401d-9688-d4e6bf1533c3.png)