Tears of joy and singing greet Irish peacekeepers returning from Lebanon

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

There was pride, tears of joy and singing as Irish peacekeepers were embraced by their families after six months on a UN mission to southern Lebanon.

The soldiers’ children, partners and grandparents waved handmade signs and UN and Irish flags in the arrivals hall at Terminal 1 of Dublin Airport as they waited for their loved ones to appear.

More than 300 Irish troops have spent the last six months serving with the UN in southern Lebanon during a tense period for the Middle East.

Tara Fitzgerald, from Glanmire in Co Cork, said her daughter Faye had counted down every day until her father Connie O’Mahony returned.

Kitted out in a camouflage costume and a teddy in a similar cap, uniform and boots, Faye held a tricolour sign she had made the previous day that said “no more video calls, no more counting down the days”.

“The start was hard, there was a lot more going on at the start,” Ms Fitzgerald told the PA news agency.

“He’s home now, that’s the main thing. (It was) worrying, but they kept their heads down and everything was fine, thank God.”

She said of her daughter: “She’s counted down every single day since the very start, she’s slept with that teddy bear every single night, and every morning she’s rang him and counted down the days every single day.

“She missed one day the other day, she was sick, I think there was five days to go, and it was the only day out of 186 that she didn’t count down with him.”

Faye ran to her father as soon as he came into view.

“There’s nothing like being home,” he said as he hugged his daughter and 14-year-old son Jacob, who wore the same camouflage costume as his sister five years ago when their father returned from a mission in Syria.

The family of Paddy O’Donnell, who turned 21 on Sunday, sang Travelin’ Soldier as they waited for peacekeepers to land back in Dublin.

His mother Marion Renehan, from Cappawhite in Co Tipperary, said the past six months have been difficult and that his siblings and little cousins have missed him.

His grandmother Chrissie was among the first people to embrace him as he arrived into view, and said she was proud of him and “delighted to have him home”.

Asked how the past six months had been, he said: “Slow, very slow.

“It was tough (being away from family) but I could ring them, so it’s not too bad.”

Sergeant Philip Conlon, from Sligo town, dropped to his knees to hug his daughter Zoe, who has been asking him to take her to the park.

“I don’t think I’ll be getting away from her for the next couple of months,” he said.

He said families can be worried about what is happening in Lebanon, but that there is constant communication with the soldiers’ families.

Margaret Byrne said she left Enniscorthy in Co Wexford at 5:15am to see her son Robert O’Leary, 28.

She said she was very nervous about his deployment to Lebanon, which was his first deployment abroad, but said she and Mr O’Leary’s girlfriend Tara Rogers have been supporting and updating each other.

They said they were really proud of him and were excited for him to come home.

“The WhatsApp messages, he’s been sending me pictures of cats and so on because he knows I like cats and I have a cat at home. He says to me ‘would you like this Lebanese cat?'” Ms Byrne said.

Ms Rogers said she has been googling updates about Lebanon and has a lot more respect for it as a country.

She added: “It’s been really tough for me, I’ve been hyper obsessed with all the details and googling how far away it is from Camp Shamrock and the outposts.

“I’m looking forward to that coming to an end.”