Nearly 2,200 official complaints were made against Gardaí last year – a 12% increase on 2020.

According to freedom of Information files released to Newstalk, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) received 2,189 complaints in total last year.

That is up from the 1,955 the ombudsman received in 2020.

Last year’s 2,200 complaints involved 3,719 allegations in total.

Some 35% of the allegations – just over 1,300 – were in Dublin, with 346 in Cork, 212 in Louth, and 122 in Galway.

Security analyst and former Garda sergeant Sheelagh Brady said the level of complaints vary widely around the country.

“If you look at the breakdown across divisions, you can see that many of them are up and many down,” she said.

“So I think we need to look more deeply at Garda divisions of why some, I think it is 13, Garda divisions have seen a decrease and then why others have seen an increase.

“So it is looking more at the divisional level because we can’t see the same increase across every division within the country.”

She said details of the complaints involved could offer a greater insight into the workings of the ombudsman.

“It would be interesting to get more of an insight into the nature of some of the complaints,” she said.

“Are they actually less serious complaints and therefore, it appears they are less serious repercussions on the members involved or are they very serious complaints but the punishment being given to the garda after the complaint are they below what the complainant may expect?”

Of all the allegations nationally, seven related to sex offences and six were about the misuse of drugs.

There were 50 in relation to criminal damage.

However, only 17 breaches of discipline were identified in last year's complaints.

Of last year's complaints, 341 were in relation to COVID matters, up from 295 the previous year.