The remains of Pte Peadar Ó Flatharta, from Connemara, arrived back in his native county yesterday morning. He died last week in a shooting accident while on UN duty in East Timor.
His body was accompanied on the plane journey from East Timor to Galway Airport by Capt Frank Flannery, from Athenry, Co Galway.
Pte Ó Flatharta (21) had been in the Army since December 1999. Before going to East Timor, he had served a tour of duty with the UN in Lebanon.
The Defence Forces were represented at the airport in Carnmore by Maj-Gen Jim Sreenan, Deputy Chief of Staff.
Prayers in Irish were said by Army Chaplain Father John Mahon, from Renmore Barracks in Galway, as the coffin was lowered on to the runway.
Pte Ó Flatharta's parents, Maureen and Joseph, led the mourners. They were accompanied by his sisters, Máire and Anne, brothers Pádraic and Tomás, and by Pte Ó Flatharta's girlfriend, Ms Julie Ann Flaherty.
An Army guard of honour escorted the coffin as the cortège made its way to the terminal building. The young soldier's UN beret, his gloves and belt were placed on top of the coffin and it was then driven from the airport to University College Hospital, Galway.
Capt Garry McKeon, from Renmore Barracks, said that the Army wished to extend its "sincere sympathy to Maureen and Joe and the rest of the immediate family and to all his friends and relations in the Lettermore area".
He told the mourners that the young soldier's colleagues in Renmore Barracks were very shocked, as were the people in the area of Connemara which Peadar came.
"It is a very traumatic experience for all involved and we in the Army are here to aid the family in what is a very sad time for them," Capt McKeon said.
"We are offering the family the opportunity to bury Peadar with full military honours, as is appropriate in such circumstances."
After leaving University College Hospital at 4 p.m. yesterday, the coffin of Pte Ó Flatharta was taken to the family home in Trabane, where it will remain until this evening, when it will be taken to the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Tír Nee.
Pte Ó Flatharta will be laid to rest in Trabane Cemetery after Requiem Mass at noon tomorrow.