165. (1) Notwithstanding section 10(4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851, summary proceedings for an offence under this Act to which that provision applies may be instituted—

(a) within 12 months after the date on which the offence was committed,

(b) within six months after the date on which evidence sufficient, in the opinion of the person instituting the proceedings, to justify proceedings comes to that person’s knowledge,

whichever is the later, provided that no such proceedings shall be commenced later than two years after the date on which the offence concerned was committed.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), a certificate signed by or on behalf of the person initiating the proceedings as to the date on which evidence referred to in that subsection came to his or her knowledge shall be evidence of that date and, in any legal proceedings, a document purporting to be a certificate under this subsection and to be so signed shall be admitted as evidence without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign the certificate, unless the contrary is shown.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) shall not be construed to prejudice the generality of section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1951.