Over 850 chefs, mainly from India, Pakistan and Africa, were granted work permits by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in 2005. It was by far the biggest number of permits issued to one occupation. By contrast, only 581 non-EU doctors were given permission to work here.

Although the department announced last year that it would not issue new permits to ethnic restaurants to hire chefs "except under the most exceptional circumstances", it has proven difficult to find EU chefs with the same ethnic expertise.

"The hotel and catering business is expanding and diversifying at such a rate now that Irish catering colleges cannot keep pace with the demand for chefs and we have to go outside the EU to get them, " said John Power, chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation. "Bangladesh and Pakistan in particular produce high-quality chefs with an impressive array of skills. They also have a very good work ethic for what is a very demanding job."

The federation has established relations with a number of catering colleges across Asia, Africa and South America in their search for staff to satiate Ireland's increasing enthusiasm for ethnic food.

Up to 60 graduates from the 'Welcome Skills' College in Bangladesh will be coming to work in restaurants and hotels here over the next few weeks. As well as relieving the shortage here, it is a great opportunity for the chefs too. "Depending on the restaurant, a head chef here can earn up to 100,000 plus bonuses. But on top of that is the experience gained.

Most highly-skilled chefs eventually open up their own restaurant, " said Power.

A spokesman for Failte Ireland, which provides training courses for chefs, said that while 850 chefs does seem high, the increase is down to the explosion in ethnic restaurants in Ireland over the last few years.

"Ireland will need an extra 6,000 hospitality workers every year up to 2010 just to keep pace with demand, " he said, adding that ethnic cooking modules are now included in their degree courses.

He said that the surge in ethnic chefs from abroad will not in any way undermine an Irish chef 's prospects of employment. "No chefs are unemployed in Ireland today." If anything, the battle is to attract people into the hospitality sector which, he admits, does not have a great reputation among Irish job-seekers.