The new police ombudsman Fiosrú received more than 2,700 complaints about gardaí last year. Nearly 10 complaints were made every day to the ombudsman, and 61 files were sent to the DPP where Fiosrú believed a crime may have been committed by a garda, according to the body’s first annual report.Fiosrú replaced the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission in April last year as the State’s new policing oversight agency.Its name meaning ‘investigating’ or ‘inquiring’, Fiosrú takes responsibility for investigating complaints from the public concerning gardaí. It received 2,704 complaints in the latter nine months of 2025, of which 1,440 (53 per cent) were deemed admissible.Fiosrú referred 717 complaints – those relating to members of the force being rude to the public or failing to properly investigate matters – to the Garda for internal investigation.The remaining 723 complaints were investigated by Fiosrú. These related to abuse of authority (about 32 per cent of complaints); allegations of a criminal offence (24 per cent) and neglect of duty (21 per cent).There were 30 investigations opened following mandatory referrals from the Garda following “serious incidents” in which the acts of gardaí may have resulted in the death of or serious harm to a member of the public.Of these referrals, 13 related to deaths and six related to “alleged sexual assault or the abuse of power for sexual purposes”, the report said.Of the more than 2,700 total complaints, Fiosrú sent 61 investigations files to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) where it believed a crime may have been committed by a garda.On foot of these, 15 criminal prosecutions were directed by the DPP.Dublin made up 40.5 per cent (1,098) of all complaints, with north Dublin seeing the greatest number of complaints of any Garda division in the country.The police ombudsman, Emily Logan, said its annual report shows the body has been operating at “considerable pace and scale” in its first year with “enhanced powers, expanded remit and increased independence”.Logan said the ombudsman now has a “more clearly defined remit” that includes investigating sexual-offence incidents.She said Fiosrú was notified by the Garda of 58 “incidents of concern”, a fifth of which related to alleged incidents of domestic, sexual or gender-based violence by serving gardaí. Drinking while driving off duty by gardaí was also frequently flagged to the ombudsman.“We have seen a welcome change from senior Garda management to publicly report on and express concerns about gardaí as perpetrators of violence or coercive control against women, including their intimate partners,” she said.Fiosrú said it introduced a “number of significant and innovative initiatives” in the past year.These include a rapid response unit to speed up investigations; a unit to deal with domestic, sexual and gender-based violence related complaints; and a unit to recover evidence from digital devices.The unit specialising on sexual and gender-based violence complaints was set up following an external review of its protocols and practices.