The Office of the Defence Forces Ombudsman dealt with almost three times as many complaints from both serving and former personnel last year when compared with its first full year of operation in 2006, with bullying and harassment cases also featuring for the first time.
Launching her second annual report in Dublin today, Paulyn Marrinan Quinn SC also highlighted the limited resources available to her office and called for more funding to be made available.
Despite funding problems, she said her office had managed to issue either preliminary or final reports in response to "the majority of cases."
According to the annual report, a total of 76 cases were referred to the Ms Marrinan Quinn's office last year, an increase of 192 per cent.
Almost 40 per cent related to non selection for promotion, while a similar percentage related to other issues such as maladministration.
There were four allegations of bullying and harassment, representing 5 per cent of all cases.
In total, Ms Marrinan Quinn issued 39 preliminary reports and 29 final reports. Cases were upheld in 20 of these final reports.
Last year also saw a growth in the use of the Ombudsman's office by more senior ranks within the Defence forces, with 17 per cent of all cases emanating from the ranks of Lieutenant or higher.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Ms Marrinan Quinn said the increase in the number of complaints referred to her office was partly attributable to better awareness of the work of the office among personnel.It also reflected the level of trust placed in her office by complainants, she said.
She added that due to the nature of the issues at hand, her office was under "considerable pressure" to achieve a quick turnaround of cases.
However, the limited resources available to her did represent a challenge in this regard.
She added that there was a need for a debate about how best to offer the appropriate redress where a case has been upheld by her office.
The Ombudsman for the Defence Forces became operational in December 2005.
Its purpose is to provide serving and former members of the Defence forces and the Reserve Defence forces with an independent and fair appeal for complaints which they believe have not been adequately address by the internal military complaints process.