In a bid to cater to the 'stupendous growth' of visa seekers, the Irish Embassy has outsourced its visa services from March 1 to a private Indian firm with offices at seven major cities.

"There has been a stupendous growth in the number of visa applications in the last four years and we are expecting a further exponential growth in the coming years," Irish Ambassador Philip McDonagh told reporters in New Delhi.

From March 1, the Embassy, through its tie up with VFS (India) Pvt Ltd, would have visa facilitation centres at Delhi, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Cochin.

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Observing that Indian IT and pharmaceutical firms were already operating from Ireland having tie-ups with Irish companies, McDonagh said rapid clearances would be granted to professionals in the IT and medical sectors as also to tourists and other business travellers.

He said the number of Indian students, about 1,500 of whom were studying in Ireland, was expected to increase in the near future and Ireland Education Fairs would be held at Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai in April to attract them.

Those having student visas could also get work permits for 20 hours a week, he said.

McDonagh elaborated on the historic ties between India and Ireland since freedom movement and said bilateral links as well as relations with European Union, now under Irish Presidency, had grown substantially and in different areas.

Efforts were also on to attract the Bollywood film industry for shooting in Ireland 'which has the landscape and romance required for movies,' he said, adding the common heritage of freedom struggle in both countries had also strengthened the bilateral bonds.