A 38-year-old mother-of-three has been awarded €375,000 damages against her father who sexually abused her from the age of 2 or 3.

Gerard Smith from Magenta Hill, Santry in Dublin started abusing his eldest daughter Ailish in 1976 and continued for around 10 years.

Ailish Smith claims at 16 she told her mother Catherine about the abuse and her response was ‘It wasn’t too bad – he didn’t rape you’.

This was rejected as utter lies in court by her mother who also denied that she had tried to silence her daughter.

In 2006 Gerard Smith pleaded guilty to the systematic abuse of Ailish and served 3 years in prison.

Ailish then  brought a civil action against him for damages in 2008 .

The only issue before the court today was whether she had acted too late and was barred from winning by the Statute of Limitations.

Mr. Justice Eamon de Velera ruled it did not apply because Ailish Smith’s will was impaired up until 2004.

Her solicitor David Christie says she is relieved and pleased at the outcome.

“It is rather a pity that my client’s abuse – her father, Gerard Smith – tried to hide behind the Statute of Limitations” he said.

“But he’s been flushed out of his last hiding place – the curtains have been drawn back, and her abuser stands exposed” he added.

Gerard Smith has been ordered to pay his daughter Ailish damages of €375,000.

Thousands of people are expected to turn out in Katie Taylor’s hometown today for an outdoor screening of her Olympic semi-final bout.

The 26-year-old will take to the boxing ring at 2pm this afternoon at the London 2012 Games to face an opponent from Tajikistan.

Two giant screens are being set up on the main street in Bray in Co. Wicklow as part of events organised by the Town Council and Chamber of Commerce.

Former Olympic boxer Michael Carruth is confident Katie has what it takes to overcome her opponent from Tajikistan.

“She is a good, hard puncher – she’s small, she’s about 5-foot-4; but I think Katie just has too many guns for her” he said.

“Katie’s footwork is too much for her, Katie’s very very quick hands are too much for her and Katie – while Chorieva punches hard, Katie Taylor punches even harder again”.

“So I would be fairly confident here” he added.

The Syrian Army has launched a full-scale assault on the northern city of Aleppo.

Over 20,000 troops had gathered around the city in recent days ahead of the offensive which both sides say will be the decisive moment in the conflict.

Syrian State media claims that regime forces now have full control of the rebel stronghold of Salaheddin.

Mary Fitzgerald is The Irish Times‘ Foreign Correspondent.

She is on the Turkish border and says rebels say they are standing firm but that the situation is becoming increasingly desperate.

“There were some reports thus morning that the rebel fighters were abandoning their positions in Salaheddin – but this has now been rejected by rebel commanders” she said.

“They say that while they’re very much under pressure they say a ground assault has started – a ground assault by Syrian regime troops – and they are also being bombarded from the air, as they have been over the last 2 weeks”.

“But they say they are still holding on to their positions as of yet”.

“But they admit that the situation today is very dire” she added.

Over half of us are working unpaid to keep up with our workload.

That is according to a new survey from Peninsula Ireland.

It says the amount of unpaid overtime being done by Irish workers is on the rise.

Newstalk’s Jack Quann has more.