The new watchdog probing complaints against gardai has received 62 allegations of wrongdoing in its first day of business.
The Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) officially started its work at midnight when it took over from the Garda Siochana Complaints Board.
Protesters from the Shell to Sea campaign against the controversial gas pipeline in Co Mayo were among the first to file complaints to the new oversight body at its Dublin office today.
The independent watchdog also inherited around 80 files from the Garda Complaints Board which will be among the cases it is now to independently investigate.
The Garda Ombudsman Commission will take complaints made within six months of an alleged incident but can go back further if deemed in the public interest.
It will have powers to arrest and detain officers as well as search certain garda stations but it is expected some stations will be ruled off-limits by Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy.
Experienced staff have been recruited from a variety of backgrounds in police services in the UK, South Africa, Malta, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.
At present the Garda Complaints Board receives about 1,300 complaints a year. The GSOC anticipates a rise in this number.