.IE Domain Profile Report H1 2022

Since our .IE Domain Profile Report H1 2021, Government has issued Strategy documents – on Town Centre First, Remote Working and Harnessing Digital – all aligned with the EU Digital Decade strategy. It is extremely helpful to have data from the April 2022 Census – where interim results shared by the CSO shows that the number of people living in rural areas has increased by more than a ¼ of a million since 1996. Some 1.75 million people lived in rural areas in 2016. According to eminent economist Dan O’Brien, “What happened to the world of work as a result of the pandemic will, in the fullness of time, come to be viewed as the biggest ever sudden change in the functioning of the labour market….”. “….the liberation from the nine to five, Monday to Friday, rat race will have geographical consequences. For many workers, the wastefulness of commuting to and from work 10 times a week has been highlighted. A lot of people simply don’t want to do it any more, while many employers have come to see that having all staff in one place is simply not necessary. With ever more expensive energy and the impact commuting has on the environment, more working from home is a no-brainer. It is here to stay….…..” Dan O’Brien, Economist: “Census confirms that reports of death of rural Ireland are greatly exaggerated” Business Post June 26, 2022 The .IE Tipping Point Report 2022 also showed that just over half (54%) of SMEs surveyed are planning a significant digital investment in the next 5 years, with most focusing on launching a new website or improving their existing one. The Connected Hubs network, launched last year as part of the Government’s policy to support remote working, to encourage workers to relocate outside of the big cities and assist with reinvigorating rural towns is expected to benefit local SMEs. In addition, over 18,000 Trading Online Vouchers were approved by LEOs since 2020, enabling SMEs to get online or improve their online presence. New programmes and initiatives will be needed to reflect the post-Covid digital transformation. A whole-of-Government response will be essential. As digital usage expands rapidly, keeping the .ie namespace safe from cyber criminals is a key focus for us, the national registry. Through our policies and protocols, we proactively tackle technical DNS abuse in the .ie namespace and we are dedicated to fighting malware and phishing. Together with our partners we are enabling a better Ireland online through our technical and policy-based guardianship of the national critical infrastructure. “New domain registrations are a forward economic indicator of future digital activity. It’s an important metric for policy makers. Entries to our .IE Digital Town Awards are a good measure of community spirit and enthusiasm for digital solutions to a town’s issues and problems. These are both actionable metrics for town leaders and policy makers”. Oonagh McCutcheon, National Directo r .IE Digital Town Programme Along with analysing the countries and counties of .ie domain registration, this report also examines the broader .ie ecosystem, including domain usage, the breakdown of Content Management System (CMS) usage by .ie website owners, .ie domain security features, keyword usage in new .ie domain registrations, .ie website categorisation and .ie market share and international growth. Despite these insights, new post-Covid data is urgently needed. Policymakers understanding of what has happened in the digital sphere during the pandemic years has yet to emerge. We are looking forward to working with partners and government bodies to help figure this out. David Curtin Chief Executive, .IE An urgent call for post-Covid data on digital adoption [continued] .IE Domain Profile Report 2022 - January–June | 1 54% of SMEs plan significant digital investment in the next 5 years Source: .IE Tipping Point Report 2022 18,000 Trading Online Vouchers approved since 2020