There was a marginal decline in the number of websites using the .ie domain last year.

At the end of 2024, there were 326,562 websites with the .ie domain, down 0.51% from 2023, but use of .ie has risen 16% over the past five years.

The 2024 .ie Domain Profile Report, published by the national registry for .ie domain names, shows that .ie continues to hold the majority share (54.2%) of Ireland's hosted domains and is the most popular choice ahead of .com (29.4%) and .uk (7.3%).

A .ie report published last August showed that a third (36%) of website in Ireland have a low or very low level of sophistication, indicating that the organisations behind those websites are not digitally advanced.

The agency said the reports show a strong digital intention in Ireland, but websites are under-developed and digital growth is not yet possible.

In its pre-Budget submission, .ie called on government to invest in digital skills as an urgent requirement for SMEs and micro-businesses to compete on a global scale.

It is now the responsibility of Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Services, Reform and Digitalisation Jack Chambers to make grants and programmes more accessible to SMEs to boost export sales through digital marketing and improve productivity through digitalisation. 

"Since SMEs account for 99.8% of the number of companies in the Irish economy, supporting their growth and scaling efforts is crucial for a modern future-proofed Ireland," said David Curtin, CEO of .ie.

"The .ie Domain Profile Report shows that while there has been a lot of progress made in digital intent in Ireland, there is still a long way to go to convert this to real digital growth.

"The government must invest more in infrastructure and supports for SMEs to take them onto the next step of digitalisation."

The latest report also identifies evidence of an ongoing digital divide based on location, size and sector, in particular for micro-SMEs with fewer than 10 employees.

In Ireland, 35% of people living in rural areas and 37% of people living in Irish towns and suburbs reported having above-basic overall digital skills, while 46.5% of the Irish population living cities reported having these skills.

The divide appears to be closing in commuter areas such as Kildare, Meath and Limerick where new .ie domain registrations continue to rise, but Connacht and Ulster largely recorded a decline in new registrations in 2024.

There has been a notable decline in domain creations on a global scale, too. CENTR, the association of European country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registries, has highlighted notable shifts in recent years, particularly post-Covid.

One potential reason for domain registration decline given by .ie may be a recent surge in social selling – where social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok now have e-commerce capabilities on the app. Sales on TikTok Shop topped $100m on Black Friday.

"When it comes to building a credible, trustworthy digital presence, websites should be seen as ‘prime real estate’ for any business online," said Curtin.

"While social media is an excellent tool for increasing visibility and capturing audience interest, these platforms are limited in their ability to build lasting relationships with customers and, more importantly, convert them to sales.

"An 'omni-channel' approach that offers customers more than one way to engage with business is best - where social media is used as a tool to drive traffic to a secure website.

"It is crucial that SMEs have control over their own eCommerce channels and are not solely reliant on third party selling platforms such as TikTok Shop which has been proven to be extremely volatile over the past few weeks."

Leitrim recorded the largest percentage growth (+51%) in new .ie domain registrations compared to 2023, followed by Tyrone (+20%) and Meath (+19%). Fermanagh has the smallest number of total .ie domain registrations in the country as just 191 total domains are registered there.

Keywords used in domain registrations continue to provide insight to public interest as Ireland, Dublin, Home, Design and House were among the top keywords used in registrations last year.

Cork pride appears to be strong as the longest .ie website address at 63 characters is corkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcorkcork.ie; and the shortest web address with just 4 characters is 9.ie.

Photo: David Curtin. (Pic: Anthony Woods Photography)