A woman who claims she was beaten, indecently assaulted and raped by members of her family, particularly her brother, for a quarter of a century, has won the right to take legal proceedings against the gardaí for ignoring her complaints.
The woman claims the abuse began in around 1960, when she was five years old.
She says she went to a garda station in 1967 and members of the gardaí told her she must have enjoyed the abuse.
It is alleged that she was continually and systematically beaten, intimidated, indecently assaulted and raped until 1996.
She later had a child by her brother.
The woman sued the gardaí for damages but the proceedings were struck out on the grounds of delay by the High Court.
However, the Supreme Court today overturned that decision.
Ms Justice Susan Denham said the fact that the gardaí had not acted on the woman's complaint and contributed to her suffering was at the core of her case.
She said the State could not avail of the issue of delay to dismiss these proceedings which were about delay.
The woman's brother was sentenced to 15 years in jail in the Central Criminal Court in 1997.
The Court of Criminal Appeal ordered a retrial on the allegations of rape but he remains convicted of unlawful carnal knowledge and sexual assault.
