More than 5,000 children were enrolled in private primary schools last year.

Data released to Newstalk under the Freedom of Information Act show there are 40 private primary schools in the country - which range from about €3,000 to €11,000 per year.

Hedley Park Montessori School on Dublin's Merrion Square, for example, charges €11,340 per year for school and after-school.

While Monkstown Park Junior School will cost €5,500 per year.

Unlike fee-charging secondary schools, the private primaries do not receive State funding and the schools are not subject to Department of Education inspections or rules.

These schools say their rising popularity is down to their greater freedom to provide smaller class sizes, and provide "wrap-around" care for busy parents.

The size of different private primary schools around the country. Source: Tusla

Niamh O'Dowd is a teacher at Croí na Coille Primary School in Croom, Co Limerick.

"We encourage students to develop a love of learning, and that enables the children to work independently," she said.

"We try to focus on emotional development - particularly in the young children".

Ms O'Dowd said the small size of the school means "all the children get a very good chance to get to know each other - which is brilliant."

Private primaries say they have the freedom to teach outside the curriculum and typically benefit from lower pupil-teacher ratios.

Tusla says the decision to either home-educate their children, or to send them to be educated in places other than non-recognised schools, ultimately rests with the parents involved.

Main image: School bags hang on desks in a primary school classroom in Berlin, Germany in March 2019. Picture by: Monika Skolimowska/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa