whirly,
Think your wrong there. I know the IAA requires a certain number of hours of groundschool must be completed, sorry I cant think of the figure off the top of my head but there is one. The hours must be completed and an instructor must sign off to say he/she has completed the groundschool.
IAA application form:
http://www.iaa.ie/files/2009/docs/20...AR-FCL_PPL.pdf
note section 3