Finance is the most sensitive word in adult education, not just the provision of enough funding for the sector, but how people can get enough finance together to do a course.

Berni Brady, director, Aontas, points out that literacy courses are free of charge and that many other courses can be inexpensive in terms of fees. As an example, a 10-week course in a VEC could cost between £25 and £50. But when it comes to higher education, that's where the big money comes in. "It's no surprise that so few mature students go into higher education", she says.

A higher education course needs substantial commitment from the student in terms of time and money, but not many employers will give paid leave of absence.

In the UK, mature students travelling the higher education route have access to grants and loans.

Ms Brady says that free fees in higher education haven't made a significant impact on mature students going into higher education. Many other costs have to be taken into account; just one sociology book, for example, could cost £40. Book grants are quite often available; it's worth asking around.

Some improvements have been made, like means tested maintenance grants for PLCs and certain tax concessions. The Department of Education and Science introduced a maintenance grants scheme for PLC students from the start of the 1998/99 academic year. But Ms Brady says that what is needed is some kind of general financial support for mature students, calculated on the basis of need.

The Department of Education and Science has already looked at the idea of an Education Bank, for developing funds for people doing adult or mature higher education, with contributions from people going into adult education, their employers and the State.

So far, the Department of Finance hasn't come on board with the idea, but it's presently being re-evaluated. Willie O'Dea says that he hasn't given up on the idea.

One of the main problems at the moment, says Berni Brady, is that if someone is unemployed they are likely to do much better in terms of support than if they are in low-aid employment.

True, some universities do specific programmes targeted at people in disadvantaged areas, like UCD with its New Era programme.

One way round the problem is to get a scholarship. Quite often, trade unions encourage access to adult and higher education. SIPTU has a number of scholarship schemes, including third-level scholarships. When it comes to people providing their own finance to sustain them through a higher education course, it's either a question of saving up, or applying for a personal loan from a bank or building society. One organisation that is particularly proactive in helping people go through adult and higher education is the Irish League of Credit Unions.

Individual credit unions provide loans for this purpose on very favourable terms; they charge no more than one per cent interest per month on the reducing balance.

A forthcoming scheme may also help. The Bank of Ireland Millennium Trust scheme, which is being run in conjunction with the National College of Ireland, will have £10 million for about 60 scholarships a year, from 2000, for the following 10 years.

The aim of this scheme is to help support people who are prevented from reaching their full potential by financial barriers. These scholarships won't just be for people who want to do adult education, or higher education as a mature student; for instance, people in the artistic world will also be eligible.

These awards will be in the form of a bursary which could be up to £30,000 for a four-year course. Details of the application process are due to be announced towards the end of the year.

Clearly, finance remains a major obstacle for many people who want to pursue adult education, especially at third level and it remains to be seen if the Education Bank idea will come to fruition or whether the White Paper will come up with any other schemes to help people finance their educational progress.