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  1. About Us
  2. Our Work

Our Work

Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman has taken on the role of dealing with complaints from the public where they have concerns about how they have been treated by Gardaí. This role was previously undertaken by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC).

Fiosrú took on this role following commencement of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act, 2024 on 2 April 2025,

Primary Objectives

Police Ombudsman, whose primary objectives are:

  • To promote confidence in the processes for resolving and investigating complaints made by members of the public;
  • To improve public understanding of Fiosrú’s role;
  • To ensure that its functions are performed in a timely, efficient and effective manner, and in accordance with fair procedures.

What We Do

Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman, supports the Police Ombudsman’s work and is comprised of a Chief Executive Officer and staff who are delegated by the Ombudsman to carry out their functions.

Fiosrú, in addition to receiving complaints from members of the public, continues to investigate cases that were already underway in GSOC. Fiosrú has been able to learn from GSOC’s 17 years of work and from the expertise of its dedicated staff.

This experience underpins the organisation’s work to build and enhance its capability to deal with the evolving nature and increasing complexity of complaints and other matters of concern brought to our attention, and to provide outcomes that are efficient, effective, timely and transparent for the public.

In turn, this work contributes to improving standards in An Garda Síochána and to building greater public trust and confidence in policing in Ireland.

Complaints

GSOC opened around 2,000 formal complaints each year, which contained about 5,000 allegations of Garda misconduct (as one complaint can include several allegations).

The ‘Complaints’ section on our website includes an explanation of the ways in which complaints can be investigated under the current legislation, The Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024.  

Independent investigations following referral from the Garda Síochána

Fiosrú also conducts investigations into circumstances where the conduct of a Garda, or Gardaí, may have resulted in death or serious harm to a person. Such incidents are referred to Fiosrú by the Garda Síochána to ensure the investigations are carried out independently.

Public interest investigations

Fiosrú may investigate matters in relation to the conduct of Gardaí when it is in the public interest, even if a complaint has not been received.

The Police Ombudsman may decide to open such an investigation, or may be requested to do so by the Minister for Justice.

The Minister, the Policing Authority or the Garda Commissioner may also refer a matter for Fiosrú to consider whether it should be investigated in the public interest.