Some excellent answers which I could not add to. Other than to re-emphasise the point that the Air Corps is military. If that is not your cup of tea then you won't like it one bit. I did my best to get into the Air Corps to no avail
But I genuinely wanted a military career. I believe it has a lot to recommend it. Not least that it's probably the only way left where you can be trained at someone else's expense. There is a high washout rate. I think only two pilots received their wings at the last wings ceremony.
Ironically, if your interest is in going down the airline route eventually via the Air Corps. It may actually be quicker to forget the military and go the normal civilian flight school route. Talking to some Air Corps pilots they bemoaned the relative lack of hours they flew. In fact some enlisted personnel training at their own expense to become civil pilots had more hours than them and were getting jobs with the likes of Ryanair quicker than their superior officers.
Certainly you will be in the right seat of an airliner at lot quicker if you stay out of the Air Corps. On the other hand I don't think you would ever regret flying for the military for a few years. Great training, interesting flying. However as Keithto pointed out there is no recruitment until 2009.
As for the lack of money, well most of us got over that hurdle one way or the other. It is far easier to get hold of the money for training these days than when I started. So don't let that put you off. Just allow for the fact that it will take a few years unless you have the money upfront for an integrated course.