Blog | Ireland Online: The 25-Year Internet Transformation
Introduction
Over the last 25 years, Ireland has experienced a dramatic transformation in its internet landscape.
The journey began in the late 1990s, when Ireland started to adopt early dial-up connections. Over time, the country became home to some of the world’s biggest tech giants, and the gradual expansion of broadband infrastructure, which has become increasingly important for both businesses and individuals.
While there have been advancements in technology, this evolution has been accompanied by ongoing challenges in areas such as digital accessibility and the digital divide. The digital impact on Ireland’s cultural and economic fabric is still unfolding.
During this timeframe, .ie has worked with businesses, communities, and people to educate, guide, and support them on their internet journey and to highlight the benefits of an online presence.
In this blog, our CEO David Curtin explores how the internet in Ireland has developed, highlighting key milestones, challenges, and how the country continues to adapt to the ever-changing digital world.
Biggest challenge in developing Ireland’s internet ecosystem
As one of the many guardians, guides and stewards that have helped the internet in Ireland grow and develop, we in .ie would say the biggest challenge was the poor availability of broadband and the lack of commitment to helping with internet adoption — and all things internet-related — in the early days.
It took mobile internet to come to the rescue and make internet access more available, affordable and usable for small businesses up and down the country. I don’t think history will be kind to the incumbent monopoly at that time. Thankfully, broadband is improving dramatically with the Government’s National Broadband Rollout Plan, which helps to close the urban-rural divide, and fill in the black spots around the country.
Stats and Figures
Ireland’s relationship with the internet has evolved significantly since 2000. At the start of the 21st century, just 20.5% of households in Ireland had access to the internet, and just 32.5% had a permanent home computer. The most recent CSO figures (2024) show how these numbers have skyrocketed, with internet access a standard fixture in 94% of Irish households, used mainly for email (94%), instant messaging (75%), reading the news (73%) or internet banking (73%).
Regarding domains, the number of .ie domain registrations aligns with the acceleration in internet adoption over the past 25 years, with the total .ie domain database increasing by 311,056 .ie domains between 2000 and 2024 (a 2006% increase).
Initiatives to educate and support businesses and communities
We’ve run programmes for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) that want to get online. One I’m particularly proud of was an annual competition called Optimise, where winners received 10 days of face-to-face time with a consultant to improve their online presence and grow their e-commerce sales. Over the last 5 years, around 60 business owners benefitted from that.
More recently, we’ve been running a programme, Digital Town, where we work with the Government to implement its rural digital strategy and empower local communities, governments and businesses to make better use of digital technology, and to meet their town’s goals.
Why Irish consumers trust .ie domains
We know that 79% of Irish consumers prefer a .ie website when buying online. First and foremost, that’s because people who register domain names with us have to confirm their identity, which is a level of security that consumers appreciate. Secondly, we employ a monitoring agent to scan existing .ie websites and, if it discovers malware on them, it informs the hosting provider and owner of the domain name.
SMEs can be innocent victims of malware, so this acts as a protective shield for them. Lastly, we have a cost-effective way of dispute resolution that’s very suitable for small businesses.
Competition from other domains in the future
It will certainly intensify. In top-level domain terms, .com is still the dominating force with 156 million .coms around the world. Nevertheless, in terms of market share, we come out very well. In 2024, our market share of hosted domains in Ireland was 54%, compared to 29% for .com.
Where is the internet landscape in Ireland heading?
In terms of how people communicate and engage with each other, there’s no doubt that social media has become more prominent and useful than websites. However, where websites come into their own is by allowing businesses to tell their own story and get their message across in a world where fake news is spreading.
For any business, their website is their piece of real estate online — something they own and control. What do I see changing? Many indicators are looking poor, particularly with social media giants saying that they are no longer going to fact-check. That’s not a good trend.
The Need for Education, Cooperation, and Proactive Measures
Our efforts to improve cybersecurity will continue with messages about security hygiene and being careful about the type of links you click. Although controls are improving; education among consumers must increase; we need greater adoption of the tools available to help businesses deal with ransomware and email compromises.
Critical internet infrastructure providers will be asking users to take what might first appear to be unnecessary steps but are actually vital for their security. To thwart the activities of cyber criminals, there needs to be more cooperation between internet guardians, guides and stewards. The bad guys have organised. Now, the good guys must do the same.
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As the trusted national registry for nearly 330,000 domain names, .ie protects Ireland’s unique online identity and empowers people, communities and businesses connected with Ireland to thrive and prosper online. A positive driving force in Ireland’s digital economy, .ie serves as a profit for good organisation with a mission to elevate Ireland’s digital identity by providing the Irish online community with a trusted, resilient and accessible .ie internet domain. Working with strategic partners, .ie promotes and invests in digital adoption and advocacy initiatives – including the .ie Digital Town Blueprint and Awards for local towns, communities and SMEs. We provide data analytics and dashboards built by the .ie Xavier team to help with data-led decision-making for the public, registrars and policymakers. The organisation is designated as an Operator of Essential Services (OES) under the EU Cyber directive, and we fulfil a pivotal role in maintaining the security and reliability of part of Ireland’s digital infrastructure.