Fiosrú launches 2025 Annual Report: A year of transformation, new powers and momentum

Fiosrú publishes 2025 Annual Report

• Inaugural year sees 2,706 public complaints to strengthened independent police oversight body
• Watchdog sets up specialist unit as its investigative powers extend to garda alleged sexual offences

Issue date: Wednesday, 27 May 2026

Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman, today (May 27, 2026) publishes its Annual Report for 2025 which documents the activities of the reformed independent police oversight body in its founding year.

Fiosrú received a total of 2,706 public complaints about gardaí during the nine-month reporting period following its establishment on 2 April 2025 when Police Ombudsman Emily Logan was appointed by the President of Ireland.

The Annual Report presents an in-depth overview of Fiosrú’s work in assisting complainants to resolve complaints concerning gardaí and in carrying out its own independent investigations into allegations of criminal or disciplinary issues involving gardaí. 

The report provides enhanced detail and information about its work, with the inclusion of nine case studies providing a snapshot of the range of ways in which complaints and referrals were received, progressed, investigated and resolved. 
 
Commenting on the Annual Report, the Police Ombudsman, Emily Logan, said:

“As this report shows, Fiosrú has been carrying out its work at considerable pace and scale in its first year of operating with the enhanced powers, expanded remit and increased independence that stem from our founding statute, the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024.

“Fiosrú exists to provide an independent, impartial and efficient complaints service for members of the public who have concerns about gardaí, whether that be conduct issues or potential criminality. Our independent police oversight role also includes investigating serious incidents involving gardaí that are brought to our attention by An Garda Síochána.”

Fiosrú’s new expanded powers for complaints handling and investigations

The Annual Report details Fiosrú’s enhanced statutory powers and independence as a policing oversight agency in the following ways:

• A new resolution channel for complaints, with powers for Fiosrú to decide whether a complaint should be referred to An Garda Síochána for resolution or warrants a criminal or non-criminal investigation by the Police Ombudsman. Complaints that are considered suitable for referral for resolution by gardaí are service-level or performance management complaints.

• A widened range of allegations which Fiosrú is mandated to investigate following Garda referrals of incidents where an act or omission of a garda may have resulted in death or serious harm to a person. These referrals now include serious incidents involving a sexual offence where a garda is the alleged perpetrator or where a garda failed to investigate an alleged sexual offence. They also include the abuse of power for a sexual purpose by a garda.

• A new power to make systemic recommendations on foot of investigations where the Police Ombudsman has concerns about the practices, polices or procedures of An Garda Síochána.

Changed structures and procedures for efficient investigations in Fiosrú’s founding year 

Fiosrú introduced a number of significant and innovative initiatives in 2025, including the establishment and expansion of three specialist units to cater for its new expanded remit and also to reflect emerging trends in complaints and investigations: 

• A rapid response unit to gather and assess evidence in investigations involving alleged criminal offences and speed up response times. The work of this unit includes early engagement by Fiosrú’s investigative staff with both complainants and gardaí to drive efficiencies, timeliness and fair procedures in its investigations.

• A dedicated Specialist Services Unit for investigations into public complaints and Garda referral, involving domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Fiosrú has appointed an expert adviser on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and has initiated a staff training and support project with Women’s Aid to support its service delivery for victims-survivors. This includes Fiosrú funding the secondment of a Victim Support Worker from Women’s Aid with specialist skills to assist in victim-survivor engagement and communications.

• A Digital Investigations Unit with experts in evidence recovery and analysis of digital data from devices including CCTV, mobile phones and body-worn cameras.

Commenting on the structural and procedural reforms, the Police Ombudsman added:

“Fiosrú is not only working to new statutory powers, but also has new more specialised and streamlined ways of operating to drive improvements in investigations and the experiences of complainants who come to my office with concerns about gardaí.

“The establishment and expansion of three specialist units allows us to both cater for the expanded remit of my office and also to equip the office to deal with the increasing range and complexity of investigations we are now carrying out. These includes new offences particularly sexual and gender-based offences including coercive control.” 
 
Key figures from the reporting period of 2 April to 31 December 2025 include:

• 2,706 public complaints were received to Fiosrú’s offices in Dublin, Cork and Longford. Almost one third (27%) of complaints concerned dissatisfaction with garda investigations, with complaints about roads policing accounting for 15%. A further 12% of complaints related to concerns during arrests.

• 1,098 public complaints were about gardaí in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, which is to be expected given the population and concentration of policing activity. Outside of Dublin, the garda divisions with the highest number of complaints were Kildare/Carlow (141), Wexford/Wicklow (133) and Meath/Westmeath (117).

• 1,440 public complaints (53%) were deemed admissible.

• 717 complaints – representing half of all admissible complaints – were referred by Fiosrú to An Garda Síochána for resolution under its new statutory powers. The kinds of complaints sent for referral involve service-level or performance management issues. They include, for example, a garda being discourteous to a member of the public or failing to properly investigate matters.

• The main types of allegations about gardaí made in 723 complaints sent for Fiosrú investigation related to abuse of authority (32%), followed by allegations of a criminal offence (24%), and neglect of duty (21%).

• 30 independent investigations were opened on foot of mandatory referrals from An Garda Síochána of serious incidents where the act or omission of a garda may have resulted in the death of or serious harm to a member of the public. 13 of these related to fatalities. The referral to Fiosrú of such incidents does not necessarily mean gardaí have been accused of wrongdoing. Such serious incidents are referred to the police oversight body so that the public can be confident that independent investigations are conducted.

• 61 investigation files were sent by Fiosrú to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the grounds that it considered that a criminal offence may have been committed by a garda.

• 15 criminal prosecutions of gardaí were directed by the DPP arising from Fiosrú investigations. 

Note to editors

Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman, is the independent statutory body set up on 2 April 2025 under the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024. Fiosrú deals with complaints from members of the public about gardaí (police). 

Under its new leadership structure, Fiosrú is led by the Police Ombudsman Emily Logan, who was appointed by the President of Ireland in April 2025. The Deputy Police Ombudsman, Brian Doherty, was appointed by the President of Ireland in September 2025. Fiosrú’s Chief Executive Officer, Sheila McClelland, is the organisation’s Accounting Officer and was appointed in June 2024. 
ENDS

To read or download a copy of the Fiosrú Annual Report 2025, please see the table below.