Parents have been banned from taking photos of their children at Communion and Confirmation ceremonies.

The Irish Independent reports that each diocese in Ireland has been directed to have specific guidelines governing the photography of children while they are on church grounds.

According to the paper, the rules derive from the 'Safeguarding Standards' guidelines, introduced by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in 2008, established in response to the clerical abuse scandals.

These standards stipulate that each diocese must have robust child protection policies in place.

Annette O'Donnell, spokeswoman for the Dublin Archdiocese, says that the guidelines have a twofold objective with one being for child protection reasons, the other to prevent any distractions fro the ceremony itself.