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NEW FIGURES SHOW that there’s much love for Irish websites internationally, while the demand for them on the island of Ireland is falling.
Of the 34,615 new website domains that were registered last year, 31,665 were registered in the Republic of Ireland, a 2% decrease on 2015; but 2,390 were registered internationally, a 4% increase on 2015.
At the end of 2016, a total of 221,871 .ie domains were registered in Ireland and around the world, according to new figures released today by the IE Domain Registry (IEDR).
Figures from IRDR, which is responsible for managing and maintaining Ireland’s country code domain name extension ‘.ie’, showed that 34,615 were registered last year alone – the second highest year for new registrations since 2011.
That equates to approximately 94 new .ie registrations every day in 2016.
Leinster registered the greatest number of new .ie domains in 2016 (67%), followed by Munster (19%), Connacht (8.5%) and Ulster (5%).
Divided further, Dublin accounted for 44% of all new .ie registrations, or 14,187, followed by Cork (9%, 2,837) and Galway (5%, 1,512).
Fermanagh registered only 31 .ie domains in 2016, the smallest number in Northern Ireland and on the island of Ireland overall. Leitrim registered the fewest .ie domains in the Republic – just 130.
Compared to 22 European countries, Ireland, with 47, ranks joint 18th with France for the number of country code domains per 1,000 people. Many other countries with similar and smaller populations fare far better, including Denmark (233 .dk domains per 1,000 people), Norway (136 .no domains) and Lithuania (63 .lt domains).
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Costs many multiples of a .net or .com address – that’s the biggest off putting reason people don’t register .ie!!
@David Grey: the paperwork is a bigger reason than the cost. If I wanted to register quietgoer.ie I would have quite a bit of bother unless I first registered it as a business name first or changed my actual real name to Quiet Goer by deed poll.
@David Grey: I own a .ie and the hassle I had to go through to get it was a pain. I also own a .net and was live the instant I bought it.
@David Grey: Too much red tape for .ie, Went on godaddy and got a.com ,simples.
The benefits out weigh the hassle. When your website is ‘live’ and activated/ optimized with Google, Google does a thing called Google localisation, which means that ‘service providers’ closer to your business will be seen first, but that is only if they have entered their details correctly according to Google, Bing, Yahoo etc etc. Having a business in Ireland with a .com, .net with no Google localization is as beneficial as having a brochure as a beer mat balancing a table. Looking at it logically, a ‘ie’ as as beneficial as having a business that offers a service in Ireland (Golden Pages Ireland), a business offering a service to Ireland with a .COM only is trying to compete for exposure with every business worldwide (Golden Pages). The .ie hassle out weighs the cheaper options 110%. We have to remember that the end customer is not the primary customer. The primary customer is Google, Bing, Yahoo ….especially where localization is involved. For an example if you type in FSI Mulcher (which is sold worldwide with multiple distributors, based and made in Italy) the first on the search will be excavatonmulcher.ie or greenequipmentsupplies.ie based in Wexford. The reason WHY is optimisation of pictures, posts and Google Localisation.
I have my name €30 annually not bad to be honest.
Too much hassle to get one and then too expensive to get.
The dot eu ones were bargains when they came out.
Too many UK based companies have taken .is to fool us. If you want to buy Irish you will need a degree.
@Jho Harris: Hah, if you want to buy Irish, going to an Icelandic based domain is probably not the best course of action :-p
@Jho Harris:
“to fool us”
Speak for yourself – I can tell the difference between an “e” and an “s”.
In the last couple of years, registering a .ie is much more straight forward than it used to be. It can still be a hassle depending on the reason you select.
You just need to understand the system. If you want to potentially set up a business but don’t want to actually register a business yet, select discretionary name and explain your reasons.
A few years ago, it involved headed paper, CRO numbers and a lot of back and forth. It actually could take weeks to go through. These days, it tends to be sorted out within a day or two.
have your say