The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has said he has to live within the realities of the Catholic Church's policy on women priests.
Dr Martin was speaking in advance of the ordination of three priests for the Archdiocese tomorrow.
They will be the first priests to be ordained in the Archdiocese in two years.
Dr Martin said it was very important that the men, who are all over the age of 40, were joining the ordained ministry.
But he said there were not enough others taking up ministry, adding that he had spent much of the last few days seeing how he could fill spaces in dioceses that really needed priests.
Dr Martin said there are four men entering the seminary in Maynooth this year.
But he said he was convinced that there are more potential priests out there that the church has not challenged sufficiently and who may be interested in answering the call.
