Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he hopes to visit Irish troops serving on peacekeeping missions in Lebanon next year following the death of Private Sean Rooney.
Varadkar said that he does not currently have any plans to visit UN peacekeeping forces stationed abroad due to his busy schedule over the upcoming months, but he hopes to squeeze in a visit “sometime next year.”
In Lebanon, a convoy attack nearly two weeks ago resulted in the death of an Irish soldier from Newtowncunningham, Co. Donegal.
“I haven’t got any plans at the moment to travel to Mali, Lebanon, or Syria, but I might be able to do that perhaps sometime next year,” Varadkar said.
“It is something I certainly hope to fit in if I can.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Varadkar said he would love to visit India again following his private family trip to the country in 2019.
The Fine Gael leader visited his ancestral village of Maharashtra in the west of India.
When asked if he would like to make an official visit to India, Varadkar said “It’s something I’d love to do. I have been there privately, in 2019, as part of a family visit,”
“I haven’t visited [India] officially since 2011. But these things are actually quite complicated to organise. You know, a lot of work has to be done on the ground in advance.
“You have to know that the Prime Minister is available, and things like that. But it’s on the list of possibles, but by no means definite in 2023.”