Not that anyone (including Gardaί and even insurers) bothers, but unaccompanied learners in Ireland may be more difficult to spot from 1st July 2008.
From that date, 2nd provisional licence holders are legally required to be accompanied. 1st and 3rd+ provisional licence holders were always required to be accompanied, but not many took any notice. Even with lax enforcement, the money is on the L-plates disappearing from display.
Last year there were over 400,000 provisional licence holders (which by my maths is around 10% of the population. 
) Waiting lists for tests in some areas was running at 50 weeks. In an attempt to reduce the queues a private company SGS was sub-contracted to conduct tests on behalf of the Road Safety Authority. Anecdotal evidence from driving instructors suggests that more candidates are passing SGS tests and undeservedly (a bit like the 1979 licence give-away, but dressed up as a test.
)
BBC News - Testing times for Irish drivers 23/06/08
HERALD.IE - Learner in collision pulling out of test centre 24/06/08
IRISH TIMES - No plan to crack down on L-drivers 25/06/08
None of this matters much, because the general standard of driving (I’ve found) is pretty desperate here anyway 
(trying to drive round me on all sides)