'First the banks, then post offices ... now rural Ireland is losing its priests' 

In small rural parishes, the loss of a priest through retirement or death is keenly felt, says Conor Capplis, with the Catholic Church slow to react to a problem they have known about for many years

Fr Denis O’Mahony parish priest in Abbeydorney, Co Kerry. The 75-year-old is close to retirement.

When Fr Denis O’Mahony left his native Co Kerry at 18, he was one of six accepted from his small school into Maynooth Seminary to begin his priestly training. This year, just 10 students began their study for the priesthood in the entire country, showing how radically altered things have become for the Catholic Church.

Ireland has been a changed country for some time, and, for many, the Catholic Church has long been left to the periphery. A gradual slowdown in young men hearing the call to the priesthood since the middle of the last century is taking its toll, and many priests are fast approaching retirement or ministering into their 80s.