IE Domain Registry
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The IE Domain Registry (IEDR) is the domain name registry for the .ie country code top-level domain. Formally, the IE Domain Registry Limited is a private company, limited by guarantee, incorporated in Ireland having its registered office and principal place of business in Sandycove, County Dublin. It operates on a not-for-profit basis and is a member of the CENTR representative body. IE Domain Registry Limited took over the administration of .ie in July 2000.
The IEDR have received a lot of media attention in Ireland and abroad for their unusual policies in issuing domains. A large amount of generic terms in the medical sector were registered to a company Medical Pages (Ireland) Ltd, in what was almost certainly cybersquatting; and the majority of common Irish surnames were issued to a customer of Kalopa Internet Solutions Limited. Previous to this occurrence Irish firms had been denied domains because they were overly generic and did not reflect the companies name.
However, in 2004, the state communications regulator, ComReg, stated their intention to take control of the .ie domain and liberalise its sale, in a similar manner to the compulsion placed on Eircom to open its DSL network to resellers. The IEDR will cease to exist as the main registrar, although it may continue to sell domains. Its domains were among the priciest in the world (€112 retail, around €55 to resellers in 2004).
Unlike many other country code top-level domain registries, the IE Domain Registry (IEDR) operates a managed registry model for Ireland’s national .ie domain. The managed registry model requires that all applicants provide evidence authenticating their claim to their chosen .ie domain name at the time of application. This means that applicants must show that the domain they apply for is related to their company, business, association or trademarked name. The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), has focused on improving services and reducing costs and over the past 3 years. A price reduction of 20% for new .ie domain registrations and renewals of domains took effect from 1st January 2006. This price reduction followed a series of other recent price cuts, including 12.5% in January 2005 and 10% in January 2004, although domains still remain amongst the most expensive available.
In March 2006, The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the company leading the IENUM consortium, won the competition to provide a commercial registry for the supply of ENUM (Electronic Numbering) services in Ireland . The IEDR's partner in the IENUM consortium is Internet Privatstiftung Austria (IPA), the Austrian organisation which operates the .at domain name and provided the first ENUM commercial registry service in the world.
