"What the hell is wrong with people?" Geraldine cried on Thursday night, after gardai visited her home to break the news.

"My sister is lying in a grave because of what they have done and now they're going to get away with what they did to me."

The parents, Sue and Des Fitzgerald, were sentenced to 18 months' jail on a charge of wilful neglect after Kelly's death in February 1993. They have since had another child who lives with them in Carracastle, Co Mayo.

Geraldine Fitzgerald (27) made the formal complaint against her parents two years ago.

She abandoned an attempt in 1996 to testify against them after being visited by family members while she was in the care of the Western Health Board.

The DPP does not explain his decisions but Geraldine Fitzgerald understands his reason is her delay in making the complaint.

The garda file received by the DPP contained letters from her GP and her psychologist cataloguing a litany of health problems which, she believes, are the legacy of her childhood and prevented her making the complaint against her parents any earlier.

The file also contained the report of an official inquiry established by the Western Health Board after Kelly Fitzgerald's death. The report, Kelly Fitzgerald: A Child Is Dead, was critical of the public services' response to the Fitzgerald children's plight but has never been widely circulated.

It contains contemporaneous health board reports and minutes of meetings about the abuse suffered by Geraldine Fitzgerald, including concerns raised by neighbours, school officials and medical personnel worried about her physical injuries.