Private Seán Rooney - the young Irish soldier killed while peacekeeping in Lebanon last week - is to be laid to rest today.
The 24-year-old will be given full military honours, which will include an escort of 30 people and a firing party.
It's expected among those involved in these honours will be members of his home unit - the 27th Infantry Battalion in Dundalk.
Private Rooney's funeral mass has just gotten underway at the Holy Family Church in Dundalk at 9 o'clock this morning, and will be followed by a burial service in All Saints Church in Colehill, County Donegal.
TD and former army ranger Cathal Berry says it's an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice soldiers make:
Most people in the public would have seen the photograph of private Rooney in his blue beret, and you know about the cut from by his posture that he was just built to join the army, and my words for the family would be, hopefully in a number of years time perhaps they might derive some comfort from the fact that at least he passed away during the job he loved."
