Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

The growing status of the life sciences industry has been boosted by Cork company EireChrom which describes itself as a recognised leader in their chosen field.

Irish SMEs are set to miss out on a bumper €100m consumer spend on Black Friday as new figures reveal just 35% of SME websites can process payments online.

Pre-tax profits at the firm that operates the dot.ie internet domain name registry decreased by 24% to €253,462, last year, in spite of revenues increasing by 5%.

The number of .ie domain website names has topped 200,000 for the first time.

The amount of enterprises signing up for a new dot.ie web address dropped by almost 4% — on an annualised basis — in the first half of this year.

The number of new companies established in July amounted to 1,014 — 24% up on the same month last year and the highest figure witnessed since 2008.

The Irish internet domain registry is, for the second year, offering SMEs the chance to tap into its €100,000 website development fund, Optimise.

LAST year saw a healthy increase in companies taking a dot.ie address for their websites, an address which is ranked as one of the safest domains in the world.

Last year saw a jump of nearly 13% in the number of websites using the .ie domain.

The registry for Ireland’s official internet address, .ie, has reported that registrations for Ireland’s top level domain reached their highest ever total in a three-month period for the third quarter ending September, 2011.

THE IE Domain Registry (IEDR) — the body that manages registration for Irish internet addresses — has launched a €100,000 ecommerce website development fund.

THE number of dot.ie online registrations fell slightly, on a year-on-year basis, in the first half of the year, but a strong second quarter showed demand for domestic registrations remains strong.

THERE are a record 141,243 websites using the .ie domain name according to the latest figures from the IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the managedregistry for Ireland’s official internet address, .ie.

A price war has begun between the leading players in the area of dot.ie website address sales – resulting in the average price of a dot.ie domain name being reduced by 50%.

THE leading players in the area of dot.ie website address sales have begun a price war in the run-up to the end of the year – resulting in the average price of a dot.ie domain name being reduced by 50%.

Dublin: Ireland’s dot.ie internet domain address has been voted the safest national domain in Europe and the second-safest in the world by leading computer security company, McAfee.

A total of 9,398 .ie domain names were registered in the third quarter of this year, a rise of 15% on the same period last year, according to the IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the managed registry for Ireland’s internet address.

REGISTRATIONS for dot.ie online domain addresses showed a net increase of 26.8% last year, according to the IE Domain Registry (IEDR).

The first three months of 2009 saw the highest-ever number of new .ie website addresses registered, despite the economic downturn, it was revealed today.

The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the organisation that manages Ireland’s internet domain, .ie, reports that 2007 saw continued growth in domains, additional price reductions, further infrastructure investment and a strengthening of the company’s financial position.

IRISH people can now be masters of their own internet domain.

Web surfers can now make a name for themselves on the internet by registering their own vanity websites on an Irish domain.

The IE Domain Registry said dot.ie registrations were up 30% last year.

For the second year running, the IE Domain Registry has awarded its Annual Achievement Award to Hosting365, one of Ireland’s leading domain registry and web hosting companies.

THE IE Domain Registry, the managed registry for Ireland’s official internet address .ie, today welcomed the results of the McAfee Site Advisor Report, which named the .ie domain name as the second safest domain name in the world.

IE Domain Registry, the managed registry for Ireland’s dot.ie domain names, has today announced a 13% price reduction for new domain registrations and renewals, with effect from January 1, 2007.

The company operating Ireland's domain registry service IE Domain Registry Ltd (IEDR) has announced after-tax operating profits of €865,000 for 2005.

The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the managed registry for Ireland’s dot.ie domain names, today announced a 20% price reduction for new dot.ie domain registrations and renewals.

THE company that runs the Irish internet domain name registry swung into profit in 2003 from a €1.2 million loss the previous year.

THE body responsible for controlling Irish-registered websites and email addresses has been stripped of its regulatory function less than a year after an investigation into alleged financial irregularities.

David Curtin has been appointed as the new chief executive of IE Domain Registry (IEDR).