Sexual abuse claim is dismissed on grounds of delay

High Court - application by the defendant to have the plaintiff's action struck out on grounds of inordinate and inexcusable delay - plaintiff suffered from Klinefelter's syndrome and had a mild intellectual disability - plaintiff alleged that while attending the defendant's school, he was seriously sexually assaulted by a male care worker employed in the school - proceedings issued in 1995 - pleadings - notice of trial served in 2000 but was not valid due to failure to file a notice of intention to proceed - defendant's solicitor wrote to the plaintiff's solicitor in 2015 indicating that given the delay in the proceedings, the plaintiff should withdraw the action and the defendant offered to bear their own costs if the plaintiff did so - defendant submitted that given the inordinate passage of time that had elapsed, the defendant had suffered general prejudice to the lapse of time since the events giving rise to the allegation and had suffered specific prejudice due to the loss of a Garda investigation file - plaintiff conceded that there had been inordinate delay in the action but argued that having regard to the almost unique circumstances of the plaintiff, that the delay was excusable or in the alternative that the balance of justice was in favour of allowing the plaintiff's action to proceed - legal principles - court satisfied that the lapse of time, coupled with the loss of the garda file, gave rise to a situation where the defendant could not get a fair trial - delay between 2000 and 2019 was not excusable - there was nothing more that the plaintiff's solicitor needed from the plaintiff to bring the action on for hearing - in the interests of justice to accede to the application made on behalf of the defendant.