The Government is unlikely to abolish fees for most adults taking part-time further education and evening courses, suggesting instead that companies provide the funding.
The new White Paper on adult education has yet to go before Cabinet, but it states that to abolish fees would cost £30 million. Consequently, it says companies should fund courses undertaken by their employees. It notes that many companies already fund modular and evening courses and the State has no intention of "displacing" this funding.
The Government is hoping the proposals contained in the White Paper will help ensure that 15 per cent of all third-level places are taken up by mature students. The Minister of State with responsibility for Adult Education, Mr Willie O'Dea, has stated that the Government wants to increase this to 25 per cent by 2015.
This was recommended by the Points Commission and is part of an attempt to maintain the skill levels of Irish workers.
The proposals contained in the White Paper were obtained by The Irish Times and are currently before several Government departments for consultation. The final costings have still to be worked out with the Department of Finance.
While the abolition of overall fees is ruled out, the White Paper does propose that university fees be abolished for social welfare recipients and medical card holders. It also proposes that tax deductions allowed for taking parttime and evening courses be refunded at the higher rate of tax, and not the lower rate as is the system now.
A multi-million pound fund will be set up to finance various adult education initiatives at third level, the White Paper says. The money in this fund will be available for colleges which begin new adult education courses or for those expanding their current adult education provision.
A new training programme for adult educators will be set up and will be similar to the Higher Diploma in Education taken by second-level teachers, it says.
The Government's capital allocation to schools and colleges will also be increased under the White Paper. This will include allowing additional buildings be used for adult education. The network of 300 county libraries will also be utilised for this process.
A national campaign to increase computer literacy will also be set up, offering free training to social welfare recipients and medical card holders.