A judge has issued a warning to social media users about identifying two teenage boys charged with attacking Alex Coughlan, who died three days after being severely injured in Blanchardstown.The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is also to be asked to demand that social media platforms take down posts that breach the rights of the 16-year-old boys, as juveniles, to anonymity, Judge Susan Fay heard on Wednesday.Coughlan, who was 37, suffered serious injuries after he was assaulted on Mill Road at around 4.20pm on May 17th and was found unconscious. He was brought to hospital in a critical condition, where he was later pronounced dead on May 20th.Shortly after his death, gardaí charged two boys in connection with the incident.The pair, both aged 16, are accused of causing serious harm to Coughlan at Mill Road, under section 4 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act. They were also charged with robbing him of his bank cards and a €300 gold ring. Neither youth has indicated a plea. Both were refused bail last week and remanded in custody to the Oberstown Children Detention Campus.The boys, who cannot be named because they are juveniles, faced their second hearing when they appeared at the Dublin Children’s Court on Wednesday.Their cases were heard separately, with each teen being accompanied to the proceedings by a solicitor and a parent.Fay noted from Garda Adam Kiernan that directions from the DPP had yet to be received.The boys consented, through their solicitors, to being further remanded in continuing custody to appear again on June 24th via video-link.Solicitor Brian Keenan, acting for one of them, submitted it was clear the case was realistically heading in one direction, the Central Criminal Court. His client did not address the court.Keenan said the State needed to get the DPP’s direction as soon as possible on the actual substantive charge.Kiernan said the file was being compiled for the director.Keenan said, “There have been significant concerns in relation to my client’s identity being published online.” He clarified that this related to members of the public on social media rather than traditional news media.He also said a picture had been posted “across a number of social media platforms”, and that gardaí were aware of this.[ Jury returns further guilty verdicts in trial of six accused of sexually abusing deaf relativeOpens in new window ]The solicitor pointed out possible breaches of sections 252 and 51 of the Children Act, which can result in penalties and criminal sanctions. He asked the judge to deliver a warning about breaking the Act’s anonymity provisions.Separately, he said he would ask the DPP to serve the appropriate orders on social media companies calling for the removal of such material.The judge said the young person before the court was a child, had a right not to be identified, and was entitled to the presumption of innocence.She also warned that previously, when children before the courts were identified publicly, it was taken very seriously by gardaí and the courts.Solicitor Mark O’Sullivan raised the same issues for the co-defendant, and the judge repeated the warning.