The number of students training for the priesthood in the remaining seminaries in Maynooth, Dublin, Thurles, Waterford and Carlow is about 220. Two decades ago there were 600 studying at Maynooth alone.
Some dioceses are more critically affected than others. Dublin loses an average of 20 or more priests each year through deaths and retirements, and this year there were only three ordinations in the diocese. This has necessitated cutbacks in the manning of several parishes.
Last year the church in Ireland overall is understood to have lost 100 priests and gained less than half that number. The decline in candidates for the priesthood has been attributed to various factors, including the sex abuse scandals of the past decade, the secularisation of Irish society, resistance to the celibacy rule, and the variety of job opportunities created by the Republic's economic prosperity.
High unemployment in the past has been linked with multiple vocations. But, as a clerical spokesman pointed out, many young men no longer see the priesthood as a career option because of the many choices now available.
