A very disturbing video involving a young boy was removed from Facebook earlier this week following calls from concerned users.

The boy, who is from the Carrigaline area in Cork, has autism and is believed to be 14-years-old. 

Gardaí in Co Cork say they are aware of the alleged incident in which a group of teenagers force-fed twigs to a boy with special needs and forced him to expose himself.

This afternoon, the father of the boy in question spoke to Jonathan Healy about what happened to his son.

Liam, who did not wish to reveal his full name, spoke about his son and his autism: "He has autism, certainly not one that you can explain in a sentence but it certainly affects their social interaction.

"Some of the terms I really don't like.

"His view of the world is quite simplistic, things that come naturally... like recognising facial expressions. This is something that he finds it quite hard to understand.

"Sarcasm, he just has to ask you, did you mean that? His social interaction is diminished."

Jonathan asked would he have been aware of what was happening, Liam replied: "When I was told about the incident, I was told he was bawling crying."

You can listen back to his interview here: