According to its 2007 Annual Report, in its first year GSOC received 2,084 complaints from members of the public and 294 referrals from the Garda Commissioner.
[4] Because of the large number of complaints in 2007 from County Mayo, arising from protests linked to the Corrib gas controversy, the Commission wrote to then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Brian Lenihan requesting a review of how the protests were policed under section 106 of the Garda Síochána Act.
[5][6][7] His successor Dermot Ahern gave a similar answer in the Dáil when the request was repeated by Sinn Féin two months later.
GSOC recommended that disciplinary action be taken against an unnamed senior member of the Garda Síochána in relation to the handling of a Shell to Sea protest in north Mayo.
Some 20 civilians and two Gardaí were injured when a landowner objected to trespass on his property by contractors for Shell EP Ireland.
[10][11] In December 2012, GSOC exercised its powers of arrest for the first time, detaining a County Galway Garda for questioning in relation to an allegation of sexual assault.
[13] In May 2014, GSOC was reported to be investigating the death of a teenager whose body was found in a stream close to the Sallybrook estate of garda superintendent Michael Leacy in Dungarvan, County Waterford.
[18] The chairman of GSOC, Simon O'Brien, resigned his job from 30 January to take up a position with the Pensions Ombudsman Service in the UK.
There had been calls for his resignation by Alan Shatter and representatives of the 1,000 rank-and-file Gardaí based in Dublin's South Central Division over the Surveillance controversy.
[19] In March 2015, "based on the level of public disquiet it generated" it was announced that GSOC would investigate an incident whereby a homeless man was handcuffed, pepper sprayed and trampled on by a Garda on Henry Street.
[22] In February 2016, it was reported that the wife of former garda press officer Superintendent David Taylor made a complaint to GSOC over a failure to preserve evidence.