The level of complaints against the gardaí has increased by 10 per cent, the annual report of the Garda Complaints Board shows.
The report published today says the Board dealt with 1,405 cases in 2002 of which 1047 were dismissed or withdrawn.
Of the remainder only 31 were either referred to the Garda Commissioner or the Board's tribunal.
The tribunal issued cautions to two gardaí who were deemed guilty of a disciplinary offence.
However the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) claimed it was hard to believe that so few cases should be deserving of even the most minor of disciplinary sanctions.
In its report the Board said it did not have the power or the resources to investigate and deal adequately with complaints made against members of the force
It called for the establishment of body capable of conducting independent investigation of the gardaí.
Director of the ICCL, Ms Aisling Reidy, said: "This is not the first time that the Board has fully acknowledged its inadequacies and the lack of public confidence it enjoys - but it should be the last time it has to."
"This report is unambiguous in the need for the establishment of a fully independent mechanism with real powers of investigation, a measure for which the ICCL has been calling for many years," she said.
Labour's spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello, said: "The latest report, which it itself almost a year out of date, again points to the backlog of complaints and the limitations on the role of the Board."
Mr Costello said: "It is now more than two years since the former Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, announced plans for the establishment of a Garda Inspectorate, that would have the powers of an Ombudsman."
"However, the required legislation has still not been brought before the Dail and no money whatsoever has been allocated in the 2004 Estimate of the Department of Justice for this purpose," he said.