The company that registers the .ie address for Irish websites reported a 74 per cent increase in new registrations in the 18 months to December 2001.
Today’s results is the IE Domain Registry's (IEDR) first filing as an independent limited company since its transfer from University College Dublin.
The IEDR expects new registration growth of 30 per cent this year, a similar rate as last year.
One of the major changes in the period included .ie eligibility for Northern Ireland businesses.
"Registrations resulting from such policy liberalisation contributed significantly to the growth of new registrations," said IEDR chairman Prof John O’Scanlan.
He said managed domain names, such as .ie, continue to benefit from high levels of credibility and value while being in a position to prevent damaging features such as Intellectual poperty disputes, fraud and undesirable website content.
This year will see IEDR’s dispute-solution policy being developed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the first for any national registry.
This policy further liberalises rules of domain registration, especially proposals on the introduction of personal sub-domains within the .ie namespace.