47.— (1) The Garda Commissioner shall ensure that, in respect of each specified period, statistical information concerning offences, criminal proceedings and the state of crime in the State is compiled and stored.

(2) The Garda Commissioner shall make information compiled in accordance with subsection (1) available to the Minister and the Central Statistics Office at the times and in the manner that the Minister may require.

(3) In this section “specified period” means—

F96[(a) the period beginning on 1 July 2007 and ending 3 months after that date, and]

(b) each subsequent period of 3 months beginning on the day after the end of the previous period.