Longford Leader Poll: Has money become more important at First Holy Communion than the sacrament itself?

The survey also indicated the one in four children receive more than €800, while parents spend an average of €845 on the occasion.  

This latest survey found that 92% of parents financed the day through their own savings, an increase of 5% on last year.

Half of the parents survey agree that there was pressure to spend as much money on the day as other parents do, but almost a third would rather save the money for birthdays or summer holidays instead.

Other information from the survey revealed that the occasion continued to provide an  opportunity for children to learn about finance and savings, with 85% of parents reporting that some of the money received would be put into a savings account in the child’s own name.

Ulster Bank also discovered through the survey that the most common purchases with Communion money are toys (42%) and clothes (31%), however, there has been a significant drop in the number of children buying computer games and sports equipment, down 19% and 12% respectively on 2016.

The breakdown of purchases with Communion money also includes Sports equipment: 16%; Computer games 15%; books 14%; music/DVDs 6%; mobile phone credit: 5%; Tablet: 3%; sweets 3%; other 14%.