If you will be 23 or over on 1 January of the year you would start, you apply as a mature applicant. That single fact changes how you are assessed.
Points usually stop being the deciding factor. Instead colleges look at what you have done, what you want to do, and whether you are likely to finish. Many courses interview. Some ask for a written statement, a portfolio or an assessment.
That is good news if your Leaving Certificate was a long time ago or did not go well. It is less good if you were hoping to skip the work, because a mature application asks you to make a case rather than hand over a number.
The deadline is the trap
1 February at 5pm. Mature applications are treated as restricted in most places, which means late application in March does not rescue you. The one date that catches mature applicants out every year is this one, because it falls months before people start thinking seriously about September.
See key dates for the rest of the calendar.
What colleges actually want
A reason. Not a passion narrative. A specific, concrete answer to why this course and why now. Working in a related field, a course you already did, a plan for what comes after.
Evidence you can do the work. A recent QQI award, an Access course, an Open University module, anything that shows you have studied recently and finished what you started. This carries more weight than most applicants expect.
Honesty about the gap. If school did not go well, say what has changed. Selectors read a lot of applications and they can tell the difference between someone who has thought about it and someone who has not.
The practical parts people forget
Places are limited. A quota is not an open door. Competitive courses are competitive for mature applicants too.
Some requirements still apply. A course needing a specific maths or science standard usually still needs it, whatever your age.
Money. Look up the fee position for your situation before you commit, including whether the free fees scheme applies to you and what supports exist. Ask the college directly, because the answer depends on your own history.
Part time is a real option. If full time is not possible, a part time or flexible route to the same qualification exists at many institutions and does not go through the CAO at all. Ask the admissions office what they offer.
If mature entry is not the fit, look at the PLC and QQI route, which gets a lot of people to the same place a year later.