Department Of Education:

Traditionally the Department has done little more than channel small amounts of funding to the VECs. Its tiny adult education section, headed by an assistant principal officer, has had no policy role. In one of her last acts as Minister, Niamh Bhreathnach approved a new programme of providing adult courses through selected secondary schools.

The VECS:

The Vocational Education Committees have the statutory task of providing adult education courses. They put on most of the night classes, and distribute the Department of Education's small Adult Literacy and Community Education grants, worth £3.27 million last year. In the past, the VECs' umbrella body, the Irish Vocational Education Association, has been criticised for its limited interest in its adult education brief.

VTOS:

The EU-funded Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme is the Department of Education's lifelong learning `flagship' project. It provides Leaving Certificate, PLC and other courses for 5,000 people over 21 who have been unemployed for six months or more.

Other Government Departments:

The Department of Social Welfare this year is distributing £1.75 million in community education grants to women's, men's, lone parents' and other groups in disadvantaged areas. The Departments of Enterprise and Employment, Agriculture, Health and the Taoiseach also fund and/or administer adult education schemes, often through FAS, Teagasc, the health boards and other intermediary agencies.

AONTAS:

This is the service-providing, lobbying and umbrella body for adult education. It has suffered from limited funding and lack of government interest for years, and an internal review suggests it should concentrate more on a political lobbying role in future.

National Adult Literacy Agency:

This is another under-funded umbrella body, with a tiny, underpaid staff working out of dingy offices and providing literacy tutors, 85 per cent of whom are volunteers.