{"id":228431,"date":"2025-12-12T01:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T01:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/228431\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T01:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T01:57:09","slug":"family-of-first-child-to-die-in-troubles-to-receive-compensation-over-his-killing-by-police-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/228431\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of first child to die in Troubles to receive compensation over his killing by police \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of the first child to die in the Troubles is set to receive \u201csignificant compensation\u201d over his killing by police in west Belfast<\/a>, the High Court in Belfast heard on Thursday.<\/p>\n

An apology was also issued for their hurt and suffering since nine-year-old Patrick Rooney<\/a> was shot dead in his own home at the Divis Flats in August 1969.<\/p>\n

The settlement was announced in a legal action taken by the boy\u2019s elderly mother against the Police Service of Northern Ireland<\/a> (PSNI) for the unlawful death.<\/p>\n

Urging the authorities to ensure no further delays in approving the undisclosed figure, Mr Justice Rooney said: \u201cThis is an extraordinarily sad case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick died after Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers opened fire from vehicle-mounted machine guns to deal with disturbances at the beginning of the conflict.<\/p>\n

He had taken shelter along with his five siblings and their parents, Neilly and Alice, in a bedroom at their home in a bid to stay safe from the shooting outside.<\/p>\n

Up to 200 high velocity rounds were discharged, striking a number of properties in the tower blocks.<\/p>\n

Patrick, the eldest of the six children, was shot through the head in front of the rest of his family.<\/p>\n

His parents were unable to secure medical assistance at the scene.<\/p>\n

Instead, his father Neilly and other members of the public had to carry him from the immediate area to reach an ambulance.<\/p>\n

Following the fatal shooting, members of the RUC took steps to prevent an adequate or effective probe into the circumstances, according to the family\u2019s lawyers.<\/p>\n

In 2021 a Police Ombudsman report identified significant operational and investigative failures during the killing of Patrick and three others in Belfast at that time.<\/p>\n

The use of Browning machine guns mounted on RUC Shorland vehicles to deal with civil unrest in the area was criticised as fundamentally flawed, disproportionate and dangerous.<\/p>\n

However, no surviving ex-police officer was prosecuted due to a lack of evidence.<\/p>\n

Ombudsman investigators were unable to identify which vehicle the shot which killed Patrick was fired from.<\/p>\n

His 88-year-old mother Alice sued the Chief Constable over both the shooting and the failure to conduct an effective inquiry or discipline the officers responsible.<\/p>\n

Damages were sought for negligence, breach of statutory duty, assault and battery, conspiracy to commit an unlawful act, and misfeasance in public office.<\/p>\n

Mrs Rooney was unable to accompany other family members to court on Thursday due to ill-health. Her barrister, Patrick Lyttle KC, confirmed that the terms of a settlement have been reached.<\/p>\n

Under the terms of the resolution an apology from the PSNI was read out in open court.<\/p>\n

Formal authorisation for the undisclosed damages is still to be obtained from the Policing Board, along with the Department of Justice and Department of Finance at Stormont. <\/p>\n

Mr Lyttle confirmed: \u201cA significant figure in terms of compensation has been agreed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge called on the authorities to fast-track the settlement reached over the killing of Patrick.<\/p>\n

Outside court, the Rooney family described it as a \u201cbittersweet\u201d outcome. <\/p>\n

Even though no police officers were ever charged over the killing, Mr Rooney acknowledged the settlement represented a vindication for his mother and late father.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daddy died in 2013, and on his death bed he asked us to keep going and don\u2019t let this go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In an emotional recollection of the events surrounding Patrick\u2019s death, he added: \u201cIt was horrific that night, I was eight years old and imagined (the police) kicking the door in to line us up and shoot us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were frightened out of our lives, they petrified us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile a financial settlement does not right the RUC\u2019s wrongdoing, we are satisfied that we have been able to secure a significant settlement, the terms of which are confidential, and moreover an apology for Mrs Rooney,\u201d said the family\u2019s solicitor, Katie McAllister of Madden and Finucane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of the first child to die in the Troubles is set to receive \u201csignificant compensation\u201d over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,122430,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-228431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-patrick-rooney","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news","23":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115704118964074714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}