By Business & Finance 
The rules governing .ie domain names are to be liberalised after a month-long public consultation according to the IE Domain Registry (IEDR).
The move will mean that those registering a .ie domain name will no longer need a ‘claim to the name’ – but they will still need to prove their connection to Ireland.
The IEDR says that the new policy will make the registration process easier and faster, opening .ie addresses up to more people and organisations.
“By dropping the ‘claim to a name’ requirement but retaining the connection to Ireland, we are removing a hurdle that slows down some registrants from getting started with a .ie address,” said David Curtin, IEDR CEO. “Our liberalisation proposal will make registering a .ie domain more straightforward for both individuals and businesses.
“One of .ie’s greatest values is that it is ‘identifiably Irish’. A business with a .ie address is immediately authentic, trustworthy and familiar. For that reason, the requirement to prove a connection to the island of Ireland will not be going away.”
Curtain said that the policy change has already been approved in principle by the organisation’s Policy Advisory Committee, key .ie domain stakeholders, and the IEDR Board of Directors. “Subject to final consensus following this public consultation, it is envisaged that the policy change will come into force in early 2018.
“We are pleased to be opening up this liberalisation process to the public and look forward to receiving submissions by the end of September. The policy development process for the .ie namespace benefits from this transparent, multi-stakeholder approach to building consensus for policy changes.”
Latest figures show that there are over 230,000 .ie domains registered, and 20,255 new .ie registrations in H1 made for an 11% rise on the same period last year.
The consultation period ends on September 30th.
