Nineteen young men will begin studying for the priesthood in St Patrick's College, Maynooth this Saturday.
The new arrivals will bring the total number of seminarians in the college at the start of the new academic year to 75, compared to 63 last year.
College President Monsignor Dermot Farrell said the rise in numbers was "good news for Catholic communities throughout the country for it guarantees the continuation of that sacramental life which is at the heart of the Church.
He said the media coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II in April would help increase the number of people wishing to join the priesthood.
"There was a heightened awareness not just in the sense that people were aware of it at the time but there was a lot of replaying of what he [Pope John Paul] had said during his life and an opportunity to listen again to other things he had said," he added.
However, the number of Catholic ordinations each year is still low. The number of ordinations from the college last year was eight, and nine in 2003.
The low number has caused problems for dioceses, particularly those with older priests. Half the serving priests in one of Ireland's largest Catholic dioceses, Cork and Ross, are over 55, with a quarter over 65 (not including those retired).
With a Catholic population of 235,000, it has 68 parishes and 118 active priests. Just five men from there are studying for the priesthood in Maynooth.
Maynooth has been the Catholic church's national seminary since 1795.
