An investigation is under way into an assault on a teenager in Co Meath on Monday which was filmed and posted on social media.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána said a male youth was treated for serious facial injuries at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
The assault on the teenager happened in the Navan area at around 2.30pm on Monday afternoon.
Gardaí are appealing for anyone with information to contact Navan Garda Station.
An Garda Síochána said it "is aware of a video circulating on social media of this incident and out of respect for the victim in this case we would request that people refrain from sharing this video".
The footage appears to show the teenager being punched and kicked by a number of other youths, some wearing school uniforms.
The video has been retweeted multiple times on Twitter and shared to a much lesser extent on Facebook.
Twitter has not responded to queries about its policies and procedures in relation to allowing content of this nature to be shared.
Meta, the the parent company of Facebook said, it does not allow bullying or violence on its platforms.
In a statement a spokesperson for Meta said: "This content breaks our policies and we will remove it if posted on our platforms.
"We would urge people to report this video if they see it on Facebook or Instagram and not to repost the video, even if condemning it."
'Horrifying'
The Taoiseach has described the attack as horrifying.
Leo Varadkar said the victim was humiliated and physically assaulted.
He said he wanted to "send out his solidarity to the young person who was harmed and injured".
"I really want to say to them that life does get better. It's very sad that people experience violence and bullying in school but life does get better and not to give up," he said.
Mr Varadkar expressed sadness that "how in this day and age we still see this kind of bullying and violence happening in our schools".
He urged anyone with information to cooperate with the garda investigation.
Additional reporting Mícheál Lehane
