The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) does not intend to prosecute the son of the former Maltese ambassador for an alleged attack on a woman in Dublin last year.
The allegations prompted Richard Muscat, who had been ambassador to Ireland for eight years, to resign after he claimed the media had made it impossible for him to remain here.
He had denied he had sought to invoke diplomatic immunity from prosecution for his son, Massimo, and yesterday welcomed the decision.
He said it "closes months of distress and heavy pressure on me and my family in a positive way", adding he wished to thank those in Ireland and Malta who had supported him and his family.
He said he could not rule out launching a legal challenge for damages against certain media outlets, given the effect the reporting had on his family.
"I am in a kind of limbo at the moment . . . My son was devastated, my family had to change all their plans," he said. "I was at the peak of my career."
First however he wished to see how his comments on the DPP's decision were treated by those same outlets and stressed that it was "not a question of revenge".
In a letter sent to Mr Muscat's legal representative, dated October 22nd, the Garda said that having considered the file, the DPP had directed no charges be preferred against his son.
Mr Muscat told The Irish Timeshe did not yet know where his next posting would be based.
A spokeswoman for the office of the DPP declined to comment.
Mr Muscat had previously apologised to the woman at the centre of the case, Christina Leech-Cleary, and acknowledged there was an incident.
Ms Leech-Cleary (20), a student at Trinity College Dublin, had alleged that the diplomat's son had attempted to drag her into Herbert Park in Donnybrook and tried to put his hand down her top before she escaped.
She contacted the Garda and Muscat was arrested and questioned. However, she said gardaí told her that, because her alleged attacker was a diplomat's son, he was immune from prosecution.
Efforts to contact Ms Leech Cleary yesterday were unsuccessful.
Mr Muscat told Maltese newspapers last August that the police had listened to his son's side of the story, which contradicted the complainant's report. He added that his son suffered from mental health problems, which had been confirmed by his psychiatrist.