Keane Mulready-Woods Murder: video purporting to show child's murder and dismemberment

Gardaí believe the video and images sent to the family to be fake but they did suggest that some of the content being shared on social media could be genuine.

“We are fairly confident everything we have seen so far is fake.

"But we are not sure we have seen everything,” said Gardaí .

Gardaí have said they are aware that videos and photos are being posted on social media and appealed to the public to stop sharing the content.

“They are distressing to Keane’s family and if verified are disrespectful images of the deceased and provide false support to the perpetrators of this brutal crime,” said a Gardaí.

Keane Mulready-Woods was last seen by his family in Drogheda on Sunday evening.

On Monday, a sports bag containing his partial remains was discovered in Moatview Drive, Priorswood, Dublin 17.

The Dublin Fire Brigade attended the scene of a vehicle on fire in Trinity Terrace, Dublin 3 in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Further remains, including a human head, were discovered inside the vehicle.

Deputy garda commissioner John Twomey said he was "determined" to catch and punish the boy's killers.

"An Garda Síochána is determined to bring those behind this shocking crime to justice.

"In recent years An Garda Síochána has made significant progress in tackling organised crime through arrests leading to convictions and major seizures of guns, drugs and cash.

"This focus will continue. As always, the help and support of communities is vital to this," he added.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar visited Drogheda on Friday where he described the teenager's murder as "grotesque and gruesome".

"I want to assure the public and the people of Drogheda that gardai will have all the resources they need."

"They need to find the people who carried out this crime and make sure that they are brought to justice."

Mr. Varadkar added: "I want to reassure the people of Drogheda in particular that we stand right behind them and I plan to get there in the next couple of days because the whole country is really shocked by this.

"It is probably the most gruesome, grotesque murder that I can think of - to have it perpetrated against a 17-year-old is just particularly shocking to me.

"We're going to make sure that gardai in Coolock and Drogheda are given resources, find out who did this and bring the perpetrators to justice.

"I can only imagine how people in Drogheda feel at the moment.

"We have had cycles of violence like this before - for example, in Dublin's north inner city - and it is possible to put a stop to it. It does require people getting 100% behind the gardai and anyone who has information about it should give it to them.

"In the longer term, we need to really act seriously to tackle the underlying causes that give rise to violent crime in the first place."