The amount spent by parents on their child’s First Communion day entertainment has more than doubled over the past year while the children themselves are receiving slightly less cash but spending more of it, mostly on computer games.

The Communion season is in full swing. Happy seven-year-olds, as they always were, are swept up in a process they can hardly understand but embrace enthusiastically.

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs) say they are witnessing an increase in the numbers of clients struggling with the cost of First Communions.

One in five children receives more than €1,000 for their First Communion — while their parents are feeling the strain of paying for it.

A study which features the views of 100 schoolchildren has found that many of them see First Communion as a significant benchmark in their childhood and a normal part of coming of age and school participation.