.ie

.ie is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Republic of Ireland. Registration is open to registrants located in, or with a significant connection to any part of the island, including Northern Ireland.

The .ie domain was managed by University College Dublin since its delegation from Jon Postel in 1989, until the creation of IE Domain Registry (IEDR) in 2000; the university is still the IANA Sponsoring Organization. The IEDR is considered more conservative than other similar authorities and places certain restrictions on registration. The .ie ccTLD is primarily a business orientated ccTLD for Irish businesses and businesses doing business in or with Ireland. It has allowed personal domain name (PDN) registrations though these would only account for approximately 1% of the number of .ie domain registrations.

Registration policies have been liberalised somewhat in recent years and rules such as the one against registering generic domain names have been dropped. Applicants for .ie domain names still have to provide proof of entitlement to the domain that they want to register.

The .ie ccTLD is operated on a managed registry basis by IEDR. As a result, some town and village websites have opted for a .com domain instead. These websites are often voluntarily run by residents. Most of the town, city and county councils have registered their .ie domain. The .ie ccTLD has strong restrictions on the registration of geographic names and will generally permit only the...
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