The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, has said that thousands of provisional driving licence holders have applied for the driving test since last Thursday.
He told the Dáil last night that as existing provisional licences expire, new learner permits will be issued.
Mr Dempsey repeated that from the end of next June all drivers with such permits will have to be accompanied by a person with a full driving licence.
Yesterday, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that some drivers were on their 20th provisional driving licence and had never even applied for a driving test.
Some 40,000 drivers have had five or more such licences.
