A man in his 20s has admitted murdering a schoolboy in the south-west of the country.
When the murder charge was put to the man this morning, he admitted killing the boy at a location in the south-west of Ireland in late 2019.
Due to a familial link between him and the boy, the judge directed that he can’t be named.
To do so, would obviously lead to the boy’s identity being revealed.
Last October, the Court of Appeal ruled that the protection of the identities of child victims under Section 252 of the Children Act also applied in cases where the child is deceased.
Due to the unforeseen consequence of potentially protecting a killer’s identity and other shortcomings in the law, the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, has made a commitment to amend the legislation.
The man, in this case, was remanded in custody ahead of his sentence hearing next month.
*Reporting by Frank Greaney
