Covid crisis drives surge in 'dot.ie' website registrations

More firms move online as pandemic impacted their physical presence

The Covid crisis has driven a surge in businesses and services moving online and taking a dot.ie website address.

Last year saw a near 30% surge in Irish-based 'dot.ie' website registrations; as companies, community groups and services increasingly migrated online as Covid impacted their physical presence.

In total, 65,113 new 'dot.ie' domains – or website titles – were registered with .IE, Ireland’s national registry for online addresses. That was the highest rate of new business on record and resulted in increases in every county in Ireland for the first time.

“Businesses migrated online, many for the first time, in direct response to the lockdowns,” said. IE chief executive David Curtin. “They realised that having an online presence, and in many cases, e-commerce capabilities, would at the very least minimise the damage of reduced or non-existent footfall.”

Mr Curtin said creating an online presence has proved to be a lifeline for many businesses.

“Some businesses have fully embraced digital, using multiple platforms to communicate with and sell to their customers...Many who have pivoted their business model in this way have reaped the rewards and stayed afloat, even thrived, in an intensely challenging period.”

He said moving online will benefit many businesses and services in a more digitally-led economy after the crisis.

The total number of 'dot.ie' addresses totals 310,000, with the 'dot.ie' domain accounting for 51% of all sites hosted in Ireland, with 'dot.com' accounting for 32%.