Introduction
Here in .ie, we are passionate about enabling and empowering Ireland to leverage the internet for the good of its society and economy. As the trusted national registry, .ie protects Ireland’s unique online identity and advocates for people, communities and businesses connected with Ireland to thrive and prosper online. This 2024 edition uncovers many useful insights – tracking new .ie domain registrations, mapping their spread across the island of Ireland, where in the world .ie domains were registered, and much more exploration of the vibrant .ie ecosystem.
There has been a notable decline in domain creations on a global scale. CENTR, the association of European country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registries, highlighted in October 2024 that European ccTLDs have experienced notable shifts in recent years. It reports that “Increasing deletion rates, particularly from early 2023, appear to be tied to the surge in new registrations during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many of these domains are now being abandoned. At the same time, domain creations have steadily declined from their pandemic peak.”
At the end of 2024, the database of .ie domains was 326,562 (a 0.51% decrease in comparison to the end of 2023). In 2024, there were 46,180 new .ie domain registrations (a 5% decrease on 2023). New .ie domain registrations give us a glimpse into future economic activity, especially for small and medium businesses (SMEs), highlighting growing awareness of the value of building a website as part of a strong online presence.
Key Takeaways
- .ie continues to hold majority share of Ireland’s hosted domains (54.2%) followed by .com (29.43%) and .uk (7.33%)
- 16% increase in total .ie database over past five years despite decrease in total database (-0.5%) vs. 2023.
- Cybersecurity remains strong across .ie websites as three in four (74.5%) content rich websites are secured with a security certificate.
- Leitrim recorded the largest percentage growth (+51%) in new .ie domain registrations in 2024, followed by Tyrone (+20%) and Meath (+19%).
- Fermanagh was the county with the smallest number of total .ie domain registrations with 191 .ie domains in total.
- Great Britain, the United States and Germany are the top 3 international registrant countries, with Spain having the biggest increase of new registrations in 2024 (64.15%).
- Cork pride appears to be strong as the longest .ie website address at 63 characters is corkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcork.ie.
.ie Domain Profile Report 2024
Digital Intention v Digital Growth
However, being online doesn’t automatically equal digital growth. As per our other flagship report, Ireland’s Digital Readiness Monitor, one in three of websites in Ireland have a low or very low level of sophistication despite various Government grants and programmes to support digital advancement.
A website and associated technologies are a proxy for an organisation’s degree of digitalisation, so between our two reports, there is digital intention, however websites in Ireland are under-developed.
Digital technologies present the potential to reduce the ‘death of distance’, overcoming the limitations of location for Irish rural and urban businesses. There is evidence of a digital divide based on location, size and sector, in particular for micro-SMEs with fewer than 10 employees.
According to Eurostat, rural areas are falling behind when it comes to digital literacy across the European Union. According to the report, in Ireland, 35% of people living in rural areas and 37% of people living in Irish towns and suburbs reported having above-basic overall digital skills, while 46.5% of the Irish population living cities reported having these skills.
A significant portion of the .ie domain database is made up of businesses – ranging from startups and SMEs to larger companies. Businesses of all sizes are embracing digitalisation, gaining valuable benefits in terms of efficiency, productivity, and cost savings. Since SMEs account for 99.8% of the Irish economy, supporting their growth and scaling efforts is crucial.
For time-strapped SMEs, going digital can be a game-changer, especially for those looking to expand through exports. It’s encouraging to see more businesses adopting digital tools to unlock these opportunities.
At .ie, we serve 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.
Cybersecurity
In 2024, cyber-crime and online fraud continues to be a drag on digital adoption and risks undermining consumer confidence in e-commerce and digital business. At .ie, we are working closely with our partners to reduce the level of security threat to .ie websites and domains. This includes manually reviewing .ie applications; continuous security scanning the .ie database; and consumer protection protocols with national regulators and agencies.
As a result, Spamhaus, and others, report that the incidence of malware and other forms of technical abuse are considerably lower in .ie than in other top-level domains, such as .com.
Previous .ie Domain Profile Reports
