Dot-IRISH is the Easy Way to Express Your Irishness Online

No fuss, no paperwork! For as little as €15.99, dot-Irish domain names get worldwide recognition.

.IRISH, the new top-level domain (TLD) for the global Irish community is proving to be an essential resource for those for whom Irishness is part of their brand or identity.

With no paperwork, it's easy for businesses, non-profits and government organisations to incorporate the word 'Irish' right into their domain, giving them a memorable name that resonates around the world.

Now, Ireland's leading domain registrar and hosting company, Blacknight, is celebrating the success of .Irish with a special offer price of €15.99 for the first year.

Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon expressed his satisfaction with the launch of .IRISH.

"For Blacknight, as Ireland's only Irish-owned, ICANN-accredited domain registrar, it's all about offering our customers as wide a choice as possible from the hundreds of Top-Level Domains we provide, to help them find the perfect match, the perfect address for their online presence. As an Irish SME, we know that many of our customers trade on their Irishness, and for them, .IRISH is the perfect way for them to introduce themselves to an international audience".

Recognisability and convenience, are the two biggest advantages of .IRISH said Neylon. "The .IE domain, while well known in Ireland, is not as easily recognisable for people outside Ireland", he explained. "Additionally there's usually a requirement to provide paperwork when registering a .IE, such as business registration numbers or personal ID, proving entitlement to a particular name".

"With .IRISH there is no restriction on who can register a domain name. In fact, even if you just feel a little bit Irish, you can register a .IRISH domain name, no questions asked!"

For organisations like TheWildGeese.Irish, a site whose members share family histories of Irish emigration, that freedom and flexibility is invaluable. Headquartered in New York, with members dotted around the globe, it's a community which has almost nothing to do with the modern Irish state, yet it is unquestionably, definitively Irish.

For its founder, Gerry Regan, the new .IRISH TLD was a godsend. Although the term 'Wild Geese' had been used as a metaphor for the Irish Diaspora since the 17th Century, their old .COM domain name just didn't explain itself well enough. “Some people were thinking that we were some kind of bird-lovers’ site”, he recalls.

“When I read last fall that .IRISH domain names were coming I became very excited”, he says. Now at last they had the opportunity to replace .COM with a more meaningful extension, to get the message across that the site was about the Irish experience, and still keep the poetic name.

“The word ‘Irish’ is worth 10 bonus points, right away", says Gerry.

"I think it’s vital to get that word ‘Irish’ in the domain name. I think it must be worth many thousands of extra eyeballs … and .IRISH makes it easy to get that word ‘Irish’ in there”

Blacknight has launched a podcast called Trailblazers.Irish, to share the stories of individuals and organisations using the new Top-Level Domain as their platform to the world. Gerry Regan from The Wild Geese is interviewed, along with the founders of Printing.Irish and Bitesize.Irish. The latest episode features Feargall Kenny from the New York startup and invesment network Digital.Irish.

.IRISH domains are on a special offer until November 10th, priced at just €15.99 for the first year. For more details visit Blacknight.Irish.