Gardaí are warning people they face fines of up to 10,000 euro and 3 years in jail if convicted of sharing photos of children at court proceedings.
It follows the high profile Ana Kriegel trial, and reports of photographs of two 14 year old boys convicted of her murder being shared online.
Gardaí have issued a statement reminding people of the anonymity of a child in court proceedings.
They say no picture which purports to be or includes a picture of the child, or which is likely to lead to his or her identification, shall be published or included in a broadcast.
Facebook and Twitter have been ordered to take down any material that might identify the two boys convicted of Ana Kriegel’s murder.
Just after lunchtime yesterday, the two boys were convicted of murdering 14 year-old Ana Kriegel at a derelict farmhouse in Lucan on May 14th 2018.
One of them was also convicted of aggravated sexual assault.
Both of them are also 14yo and their identities were protected throughout the lengthy trial by order of the court and by law.
That protection remains in place for the rest of their lives and nothing can ever be published which identify or tend to identity them.
Following concerns raised by BOY B’s lawyers that such material was being posted and shared online, a High Court judge has ordered representatives from Facebook and Twitter to come before his court tomorrow.
Mr. J Michael White also made an order for the social media giants to take down any material which identifies them.
The court has unlimited powers of imprisonment and fine for contempt of court and a person can also be jailed for up to three years if they break the relevant law in the Children Act.
Meanwhile, there's been calls for age blocking of online content in the wake of the Ana Kriegel murder trial.
It's after it was revealed that Boy A, who was convicted of murder and aggravated sexual assault, had thousands of pornographic images on his phones.
Both 14-year-olds found guilty of the teenager's murder will be sentenced on July 15th.
The UK recently brought in laws requiring people to prove they are over 18 to view online porn sites.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it's worth examining in more detail:
"The UK law is relatively new. We don't know yet if it has been effective".
