Major gaps in data are limiting our understanding of the full extent of Irish business and society's digital transformation following the pandemic and will delay the adoption of digital tools and websites, according to .IE.

The national domain registry's Domain Profile Report H1 found that chronically out of date data would have a knock-on effect on SME productivity and consumer behaviours and preferences, as well as the transformation of professional services.

“This .IE Domain Profile Report clearly illustrates the nation’s digital intent, county by county, reflecting a narrowing of the digital divide,” said David Curtin, CEO .IE.

“However, there is a significant lack of data as to the full extent of digital transformation across the country during the two years of lockdowns. This is because pre-2019 data on digital adoption is chronically out of date.

“Gathering post-Covid data is a critical priority for policymakers and local leaders to ensure that all new programmes and initiatives reflect the post-Covid digital transformation.

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"This starts with understanding what metrics really matter when driving digital adoption, and then enforcing a whole-of-government approach in developing programmes, initiatives, and solutions to close the digital divide.

"Silo-ed data leads to incomplete analysis and, even worse, misdirected investment decisions and supports for communities, sectors, towns and counties. Sharing up-to-date data with motivated stakeholders and commercial service providers will help to avoid this.”

.IE believes that essential national cyber security initiatives will benefit from this approach, enabling them to effectively direct cyber security awareness training and develop wide-ranging cyber skills to protect and defend digital assets and applications, often adopted in haste during the pandemic-enforced lockdowns.

The agency identified 211 cybersecurity attacks during the first six months of the year, and 386 in the 13-month period from the start of June 2021 to the end of June 2022.

The most common cybersecurity attacks during H1 were phishing (52%), malware (17%), web shell (13%) and shopping site skimmer (8%).

A total of 25,539 new .ie domains were registered in the first half of 2022, bringing the total .ie database to 332,642 domains, an increase of 2.6% year-on-year and 21.8% on the same period three years ago before the onset of Covid-19.

More than 120,000 new .ie domains were registered over the past three years, with evidence from the data reported showing that the urban-rural digital divide is closing.

The report also shows that 91% of all .ie domains are registered on the island of Ireland, with .ie domain accounts for 53% of all top-level domains hosted in Ireland, an increase of 1.1 points year-on-year.

In comparison, .com accounts for 30% of all hosted domains, followed by .uk (7%) and .eu (2%).

Just under half of all .ie domains (48%) have a content-rich website, with almost 1 in 4 (23%) of these e-commerce-enabled, including automated bookings and reservations.

The top three payment processors on .ie websites are Apple Pay (59%), Visa (43%) and American Express (38%).

(Pic: Getty Images)