To register a .ie domain you choose a name, check that it is free, buy it through a registrar accredited by .IE (the Irish registry, which used to go by IEDR), and show a connection to Ireland: a CRO or RBN number, an Irish passport or driving licence, or evidence that you trade here. It costs roughly €15 to €30 a year and is usually approved within a day or two. The rule that matters more than any other is to register it in your own name, with an email address you control, not your web designer’s.
The numbered steps on this page give the short version. The rest is the detail behind each one, and the places people get caught.
Who runs .ie and why there is a proof step
The .ie registry is .IE, a company based in Dublin that was known as the IE Domain Registry, or IEDR, until it rebranded. Its site is weare.ie. Unlike .com, where anyone anywhere can register anything in seconds, .ie is a managed registry: every applicant has to show a real connection to Ireland before the name goes live.
That extra step is the reason an Irish customer reads a .ie address as local, and it is why so many good names are still free. We compare the two extensions properly in .ie vs .com for an Irish business.
As we understand it, the rules were loosened in 2018. You no longer have to prove a claim to the specific name you want; you prove the connection to Ireland, and the registrar asks how the name relates to you. A name that matches your business, your trading name or your own surname goes through without fuss.
Picking a name that works over the phone
Say the name out loud as if you were giving it to someone in a noisy shop. If you have to spell it, it is wrong. Short beats clever. Avoid hyphens, numbers that could be words, and anything with two spellings (colour and color, grey and gray).
If the obvious name is gone, add the town rather than mangling the word: the plumber in Navan does better with his surname plus “navan” than with a creative misspelling. Check that the matching Instagram and Facebook handles are free at the same time, so everything lines up. And stay away from a name that is clearly someone else’s brand; a trade mark owner can take it off you later.
Checking availability and reading the WHOIS
Type the name into the search box on weare.ie or on any registrar’s site. If it is taken, the .IE WHOIS lookup tells you which registrar holds it and when it was registered and renewed. Since GDPR, the personal details of an individual registrant are usually hidden, so for a sole trader you will see the registrar but not the person.
A taken name with no website on it is not necessarily lost. You can ask the registrar to pass a message to the holder, or watch the renewal date. It may lapse. Do not plan a business around that happening.
The proof of a connection to Ireland
This is the part that worries people, and it is simpler than it sounds. You send one document to the registrar, as a scan or a phone photo, and they pass it to the registry. It is not published anywhere.
| Your situation | Proof commonly asked for |
|---|---|
| Limited company | Your CRO company number |
| Sole trader with a registered business name | Your RBN (Registered Business Name) number from the CRO |
| Sole trader trading under your own name | Irish passport or driving licence, or a recent utility bill at an Irish address |
| Club, charity or community group | Charity registration number, or evidence of activity in Ireland such as a constitution or letterhead |
| Business based abroad that trades in Ireland | Evidence of trading here, such as an Irish or EU trade mark or invoices to Irish customers |
The connection is to the island of Ireland, so as we understand it a business in Northern Ireland can register a .ie as well. If you are a sole trader and have not registered a business name with the CRO, your passport or licence does the job, and the domain can still be your trading name rather than your own name.
Choosing a registrar
Only a .IE accredited registrar can register the name for you. The Irish ones we come across most are Blacknight, Register365, LetsHost and Hosting Ireland, and some of the big international registrars sell .ie too. The registry itself does not sell domains directly.
What to compare is not the first year price, which is often discounted, but the renewal price, whether you can ring an Irish phone number when something breaks, how easy the DNS screen is to use, and whether email comes with it. You can buy the domain from the same company that hosts your site, and for most small businesses that is simpler, as long as the account login is yours.
In your own name: the rule that saves you later
The registrant on the domain should be you or your company, and the contact email should be an address you read. Not the designer’s, not the marketing agency’s, not the nephew who set it up in 2016.
We meet the alternative often: a business wants to change designer and discovers the domain is registered to the old one, who has gone quiet. Sometimes the domain is fine and the designer is simply slow; sometimes it has lapsed. Either way the business cannot move its own website. If you already have a site, look up your domain in the WHOIS today and check the registrant. If it is wrong, ask for it to be transferred to you while everyone is still on good terms. The steps for the harder cases are in how to move your website to a new provider.
After approval: DNS, email and renewals
Once the registry approves the proof, the domain is yours and does nothing until you point it somewhere. Your web host gives you either nameservers to enter at the registrar, or an A record and a CNAME to add in the DNS screen. Email needs MX records from whichever provider you choose; we go through that in how to get business email on your own domain. Changes take anything from a few minutes to a day to spread.
Turn on auto-renew, and register for more than one year if the registrar offers it. The most common reason a .ie lapses is an expired card and a reminder email going to an old address. There is a grace period after expiry, but how long it lasts and what it costs to recover the name depend on your registrar, so ask rather than assume. A lapsed domain also takes your email down with it, which is how most people notice.
What we do for clients
Every site we build comes with a .ie domain registered in the client’s name, as part of both plans. Essentials is €499 to set up and €50 a month; Complete is €1,499 and €100. You send us a photo of your RBN certificate or your CRO number, or your passport if you trade under your own name, and we handle the registrar, the proof, the DNS and the renewals. The registrant is you from the first day, so if you ever leave, the domain goes with you.
If you already own a .ie, we do not move it. We point it at the new site and leave your registrar account alone. What is included in each plan is on the pricing page.
Register a .ie domain: the steps
- Pick the name. Choose a short name that matches your business name as people say it. Avoid hyphens and spellings people will get wrong over the phone.
- Check availability. Search the name on the .IE registry's site or at any Irish registrar. If it is taken, the WHOIS lookup shows which registrar holds it and when it expires.
- Gather your proof of a connection to Ireland. Have a CRO or RBN number, an Irish passport or driving licence, or evidence of trading in Ireland ready as a scan or a phone photo.
- Register through an accredited registrar. Buy the domain from an Irish registrar such as Blacknight, Register365, LetsHost or Hosting Ireland, in your own name and with your own email address.
- Verify. Upload the proof when the registrar asks for it. The registry checks it, usually within a day or two, and the domain goes live once approved.
- Set up DNS and auto-renew. Point the domain at your website host and your email provider, turn on auto-renew, and keep the card and the contact email on the account current.