THE WAVES in Galway Bay were brown with churned up mud, choppy and white-topped. The wind howled and the rain pelted down. It brass trickled in rivulets down the plate signifying that I was now outside that Holy of Holies in Irish education - the CAO office, repository of student hopes and dreams, home to thousands of ambitions. It seemed appropriate that a great storm raged without.

Inside, a litany of prayer appeared to be rising. Perhaps to that great God, the CAO computer, which would help decide the fate of many. The women's voices rise and fell in murmured cadence while, beside them on tables, sat the tools of their trade - no bells and candles here but lozenges to soothe sore throats, rulers to help them keep their place on computer printouts, highlighter pens, CAO rulebooks and bundles of forms everywhere.

With time the words of the strange chant resolved into distinct phrases - Mary Grant - first preference - Carlow RTC - TR003 - CK4O3 - science - commerce (international) with languages. The women were checking the students' CAO forms against lengthy computer print-outs. Each form is keyed in to a computer by a data entry company and the print-outs must all be checked manually.

In another corner two women are sending back acknowledgement cards to NITEC applicants - those who applied electronically. In a separate room the financial details are being checked while, at another table, two women are sorting through the rejected forms - those that cannot be keyed in yet as not all of the details are correct. These forms, unworthy yet of the safe sanctuary of the computer, are sent back to their applicants with a request for an additional £5 to cover costs.

In a room to themselves the computers - and, yes, there are two - are sitting in state, divided by a glass partition from two high-speed printers. Small, white and unimpressive. .. almost the size of your washing machine... but with a voracious appetite for data.

One is connected to the outside world via a bank of blinking modems. The other is completely alone, austere in its isolation, safe from hackers, rendering impossible the dread scenario of an eager Leaving Cert techie arranging a place in medicine for herself.

For colleges computerisation means that they can connect to the CAO on any given day and find out how many applicants there are for their particular courses. Data is updated each day. They can also find out about the number of first and second preferences and so on. Later in the year information about offers will also be available, instantaneously, electronically - from the brave new world of the CAO.

On the human side the CAO has a full-time staff of eight with temporary staff (the chanting women) being employed in the spring to deal with the influx of applications and in late August and early September to deal with the offers.

Contrary to public opinion, the CAO does not have the power to award college places - decisions on applications are made by the individual colleges. Each college is free to pursue its own admissions policy with one exception - the position of a particular course in the order of preference will not be taken into account in assessment for admission. This means that it doesn't matter if you list a course in first or tenth place - if you have the points you will get the place.

There is often talk of the CAO computer deciding students' fate. In fact the computer is merely a means of processing information with the single exception of random selection. If the number of students with a particular points level exceeds the number of available places a computerised lottery is run and places are awarded on this basis.

THE CAO has grown from 1977 when it processed admissions for five colleges - Maynooth, TCD, UCC, UCD and UCG - to today when it processes admissions for 35 institutions which provide third-level education in the Republic. This year, the Royal College of Surgeons joined the CAO for the first time while next year it is expected that applications for American College, Dublin, LSB College and Portobello College will be included in the system.

For the confused this does not mean that these colleges will now join the free fees system. As with the RCSI, tax relief will be paid on fees for these private colleges but the free fees scheme does not apply.

Closing the door on the CAO, the storm had not yet abated. Inside the chant will continue to rise for another few weeks until stillness will be restored . . . for a time.