IE Domain Registry t/a .IE

Chair’s Statement The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for businesses, communities and citizens. Keeping the .ie namespace safe and secure for our internet users and for Irish business is a critical priority for the Board and I am pleased that the registry maintained its excellent track record for the safety, reliability and resilience of its services particularly given the circumstances we were operating in. Our immediate response to the pandemic was to work actively with our Registrar channel to ensure continuity of service for domain holders. The .IE team moved seamlessly to a work from home environment. I would like to pay tribute to the resilience shown by the .IE team and Registrars for the high levels of productivity under difficult circumstances. As a company limited by guarantee, .IE’s financial reserves are its only source of capital and it is therefore critically important that we maintain a capital base fully adequate to meet current and prospective business requirements. In recording an after-tax surplus of €419k we improved our financial strength in 2020. Net liquid funds totalled €3.4m at year end. The Company's financial position remains strong and in line with our financial objectives. We assure our stakeholders of our continued commitment to this objective into the future. 2020 was another successful year for .IE, with an increase of 29.8% in new domain registrations. The proportion of .ie domains with active websites or email continues to increase. In an extremely competitive environment we improved our market share compared to .com, to over 51% of Ireland’s hosted domains. IE Domain Registry CLG t/a .IE / Annual Report & Review 2020 4 Chair’s Statement