Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

To return to the statistics, the ombudsman commission received 2,275 complaints from members of the public in 2011 and they contained a total of 6,230 allegations of misconduct. A total of 1,424 of these allegations were deemed to be inadmissible. The corresponding figures for 2010 were 2,258 complaints, containing 4931 allegations, of which 1087 were deemed to be inadmissible. The reasons for inadmissibility varied from complaints being outside the six month time limit or relating to the general control and direction of the Garda Síochána to being of such a minor nature as to be deemed by the ombudsman commission to be frivolous or vexatious. Vexatious, in this context, should not necessarily be taken to mean mischievous or malign but that, in general, the allegations were so minor as not to warrant investigation.

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