.IE Annual Report 2022

Operational review At the end of 2022, there were 329,266 .ie domains on the database. There were 48,168 new registrations in the year, a reduction of 22.6% on 2021 (62,198). These registrations were offset by 49,010 non-renewals/ deletions which were up 17.1% on 2021 (41,859 domains). This combined effect means that the small net decrease of 842 in 2022 compares unfavourably to the net increase in 2021 (20,339 domains). These movements reflect a return to pre-pandemic levels of new registrations, combined with churn, as businesses and individuals decided not to go ahead with original digital intentions for new websites. On a positive note, we continue to gain market share against .com with .ie at 53.6% of hosted domains. Registration revenue increased by 4.6% to €4.3 million (2021 – €4.12 million). The deferred income on the balance sheet increased by 0.3% in 2022, to €2.99 million (2021 – €2.98 million). This is because the invoiced value of registration fees decreased by 1.1%, reflecting an 85% renewal rate and 48,168 newly created registrations in 2022. New registrations are an indication of the digital intentions of business, individuals and entrepreneurs. The Central Bank regards new domains as a forward indicator of digital activity. Businesses continue to invest in a trusted .ie web address to communicate with their customers and to sell their products and services, often using apps and cloud platforms to boost sales, control costs and increase productivity. We commend our accredited Registrar community for their ongoing marketing and customer activities. We invested in leasehold improvements in 2022 and completed a major office renovation to provide our teams with a pleasant, ergonomic, modern working space with state-of-the-art AV equipment to cater for hybrid communications. The financial position of the Company at 31 December 2022 is solid. Members’ Funds increased by 4.3% from €5.05 million at December 2021 to €5.3 million by the end of December 2022. Commentary on the 2022 financial performance is set out in the Report on pages 29 to 31. There was no progress in 2022 on the Company’s application to ICANN for the transfer from UCD of ‘ccTLD Manager’ status to IE Domain Registry, which was submitted to ICANN in February 2011, accompanied by letters of support from stakeholders in the local Internet community. In order to complete the transfer request ICANN will need a letter of support from the Irish government. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) is still considering the matter. We remain hopeful that the designation of IE Doman Registry as an Operator of Essential Services (OES) in 2019 may provide a way forward for DECC. The EU Directive on the Security of Network and Information Systems (NIS), mandated the designation of a Member State’s ccTLD Manager as an OES. Contributing to national cybersecurity efforts Again in 2022, the consequence of Covid-19 was an increase in cyber attacks, phishing and online fraud. The technical services team continues to protect the national DNS infrastructure against ongoing and new external cybersecurity threats, in particular in the face of the continuing global increase in ransomware, malware and DDoS attacks. The Company continues to make a positive contribution to the safety, security and resilience of our national critical Internet infrastructure. The data escrow function continued to operate, whereby relevant data sets within the .ie database are extracted, encrypted and transmitted to a third party, to be held in safekeeping and only released to appropriate authorities in the unlikely event of a catastrophic event occurring at the registry. This added layer of resilience, reliability and protection provides business continuity and peace of mind for Government, regulators and stakeholders. Chief Executive’s Report Chief Executive’s Report During 2022, we achieved ISO 27001 certification – a proud milestone for the team. Through our multi-stakeholder industry advisory body (PAC), we continued our policy-related preparations for imminent EU regulations on cybersecurity, with a focus on awareness building and preparing impact assessments with stakeholders. We also made substantial progress in building a new team to create a centre of excellence in data analytics and data visualisation. .IE is the trading name of IE Domain Registry CLG / Annual Report & Review 2022 5