The Director of Public Prosecutions has agreed that 10 people will face Circuit Court trial for sharing the identities of two boys convicted of murder.
The boys were juveniles and have a legal right to anonymity.
They had been convicted of the murder of a teenage girl who cannot be named either.
The six men and four women, aged between 22 and 48-years-old, had their cases listed again at Dublin District Court today.
At the outset of the proceedings in October, the DPP had recommended summary disposal of the cases in the District Court and jurisdiction was accepted by Judge Brian O’Shea.
However, when the case resumed in December, Judge John Hughes, then presiding, ruled that the cases were unfit to be heard at that level, where the maximum sentence is 12 months.
He adjourned proceedings until today for the DPP to indicate consent to the defendants being sent forward to the Circuit Court which can impose three-year jail terms.
Solicitor Edward Flynn, for the State, said the DPP consented and he was granted an adjournment for books of evidence to be completed.
Judge Paula Murphy adjourned one of the cases until a date in April to consider an application to strike it out. The remaining nine were put back until July 21 next.
Four of the defendants have brought judicial review proceedings in the High Court to challenge the change of trial venue decision.
The district court has heard that, following the boys’ Central Criminal Court trial, images appeared on social media purporting to identify them.
Section 93 of the Children Act states that no report shall be published or included in a broadcast which reveals the name, address or school of any child concerned in the proceedings or includes any particulars likely to lead to the identification of any child concerned in the proceedings.
At the teenagers’ appearances at the Children’s Court in Dublin, the news media was reminded of the reporting restrictions.
The judge there had also warned social media users they would face prosecution if they identified the pair.
That order continued and was reiterated throughout the trial in the Central Criminal Court.
Dublin District Court was told that, in the days after the boys were convicted, a number of posts online breached the court orders and the Children Act.
Nine of the defendants are from around Dublin and one lives in County Kildare.
Reporting from Tom Tuite at the Dublin District Court
