Irish are masters of their own internet domains

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

Until now, only registered companies and recognised artists could claim the nation’s unique .ie website address.

However, since yesterday morning, all Irish passport holders and those with addresses here can lay claim to their own sites, such as www.seanmurphy.ie.

This was made possible by the long-awaited relaxation of the registration requirements by IE Domain Registry.

Its chief executive David Curtain said, given the amount of private users setting up their own websites, it made sense to open up the .ie option to everybody.

“With an increase in broadband take — and the numbers of people maintaining a presence online with blogs, Facebook and Bebo profiles — we expect there to be keen interest from people who want to secure their name online or who want to secure a family name for generations to come,” he said.

It is not open-season, however, and people will be restricted to variations of the name listed on either their passport or utility bills.

Of course another issue arises because only a sole Paddy McCarthy or Dermot O’Neill will be able to grab the full version of their name.

Although there are more than a dozen other options available to people with common names by using hyphens and middle names, it will still be organised on a first-come, first-serve, basis.

Mr Curtin said IEDR will still observe a strict code of practice to keep the .ie address secure.

As IEDR does not see itself as a sales service, it is advising all interested individuals to contact any one of a number of domain resellers dealing in .ie addresses.

* A full list of re-sellers is available from www.tinyurl.com/2p5pnp.