'Ireland welcomes Indian IT professionals'

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI, APRIL 8. Ireland is relaxing visa regulations for the information technology, nursing and engineering industry in a bid to attract talent in these sectors. However, Indian software professionals are especially welcome in that country which has become a hot destination for global IT leaders. Ireland is also wooing Indian corporates in other areas for joint ventures in order to rekindle bilateral trade.

The visiting Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, Ms. Mary Harney, told The Hindu today that she was confident that bilateral trade and investment would get a boost with the signing of a double taxation avoidance treaty during the forthcoming visit of the Indian President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan, to Ireland later this year.

Ms. Harney also said that Ireland could be used by Indian companies as a gateway to the European Union, particularly because the investment climate there was quite conducive for Indian companies. Most investors tended to begin with small investments and then expanded operations rapidly taking advantage of the investor-friendly environment. Companies in Ireland were loosely regulated, corporate tax was the lowest in Europe and the rate of return after tax was four times higher than in many European countries, Ms. Harney added.

About relaxations in visa regulations, Ms. Harney said that the Irish Government had recently decided on the three areas- information technology, nursing and engineering- where work visas would be liberally granted.

Indian professionals in these areas were welcome, she said and added that many Indian doctors and some software professionals were already working in Ireland. Indian professionals would also find the work environment quite conducive, she felt.

Dispelling the general perception among Indian corporate houses that strife-torn Ireland was unsuited for stable business relations, Ms. Harney said violence in that country was confined to north Ireland and even there no significant political violence had taken place since the peace process got underway. There had also been political stability in her country, she added.

The Irish economy was also the most successful one in Europe in the last decade with the country recording the highest growth rate in the past five years and most of the people who had left the country earlier in the wake of violence had returned, Ms. Harney said.

The advent of a large number of world leaders in the IT sector had provided added credibility to the Irish economy. Microsoft's European headquarters was based in Ireland and half of Intel's Pentium chips were manufactured in that country. As of now, more than 1,000 foreign companies were operating in Ireland, she added.

Commenting on the Indian economy, Ms. Harney said that apart from continuing with the reforms process, India would have to go in for competitive de-regulation and improve the response of the public administration to the needs of investors who could not afford long delays in decision-making. This was particularly true of the software sector where products have a shelf life of just six months or so, she pointed out.

Sharing the experience of Ireland in controlling its national debt, Ms. Harney said that at one point the country's national debt was 125 per cent of its gross national product.

To address the situation, the Government controlled public spending, put a freeze on public sector recruitment, made cuts in essential services and entered into agreements with trade unions and employers which facilitated a consensus on tough decisions.

If India wanted to improve its fiscal situation, it would have to take the same route, she felt.

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