Hi, For 12 years now i've been involved in web development And the only country i know that have been behind on many web services are the irish. When i say behind, i mean on pricing and registering .ie domains It's a joke, As a designer i shoud be able to register any domain, anyone should If i'm living in the country there shouldn't be a problem. Whenever they see money to be made they put up the price. I know some providers are working hard to provide better cheaper services, .ie domains can be bought for 19 eu per year But my question is, what do you have to go through just to have a .ie to put your designs online. I could register any domain name on the net cept a .ie Because they put restrictions on it. It's no wonder many irish online businesses are dealing with companies outside of ireland, meaning they buy their products abroad and then sell them back to the irish.
To register as .ie you have to prove that you are entitled to that domain name which i think is a good thing. Otherwise anyone can set up calling themselves anything at all and there's no proof at all that they are what they say they are. To get an .ie domain name as a type of company for example you have to show documentation, qualifications etc which i think is a good thing for consumers.