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TRANSFER OF .IE TO COMMUNICATIONS REGULATOR ANNOUNCED
Dermot Ahern TD, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, has announced that regulation and control of Ireland’s domain name (.ie) is to be transferred to the Commission for Communications Regulation (Comreg). Officials at the Minister’s Department are currently drafting legislation to provide for the transfer of the .ie domain name registry (IEDR) to Comreg. The new Bill will provide also for fines of up to €2,000 daily for non-compliance with regulations laid down with the operation of the registry. Minister Ahern said: “The .ie name is Ireland’s website address. As such it is in a sense a national resource. I want to ensure that Ireland’s national domain name registry is in a position to thrive and benefit business and consumers alike. I believe the transfer of responsibility to an organisation such as Comreg will immeasurably strengthen the operations of the registry. In addition, increased regulatory sanctions will ensure that those in breach of domain name regulations will be hit in their pockets.” The latest domain name figures show almost 40,000 websites with .ie registrations.
Eoin Costello, managing director of Register.ie, has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Communications. He said that the .ie domain should be available to Irish companies and individuals with a minimum of bureaucracy and cost. To this end Mr. Costello is requesting that Comreg commence an immediate study on the practicality of the deregulation of the .ie domain with the objective of full deregulation in 18 months time. In the past number of years an increasing number of European registries have deregulated with predominantly positive results, he says. For more information please contact Eoin Costello Register.ie, A division of Novara IT, eoin@novara.ie.