IE-Annual-Report-2023

Chief Executive’s Report Chief Executive’s Report In 2023, we certainly contributed to our mission to elevate Ireland’s digital identity by providing a trusted, resilient and accessible .ie domain. During 2023, the team behind our rapidly developing centre of expertise in data analytics and data visualisation produced innovative cybersecurity risk-based tools and informative DNS data insights. Operational losses Operating losses of €629k for the year 2023 compared to a profit last year of €331k. The result for 2023 is predominantly explained by regulatory, compliance and policy development costs along with setup costs associated with implementing the Company’s new strategic initiatives which are within the parameters of the corporate reserves management policy. Administrative expenses increased by €865k (21.8%) from €3.98 million to €4.84 million in 2023, in line with the Company’s Strategic Plan 2024 and its operational plans for 2023: ▶ Technical Services expenditure increased by €215k (32.7%) compared to the prior year, which reflected the ongoing costs of ISO compliance and improvements in cybersecurity defences along with preparations for EU regulatory expansion. The Company continued to provide funding for monitoring services as its policy response to technical abuse that uses the DNS. In addition, the Company made provision for cyber assistance funding to assist channel partners in enhancing their cybersecurity. ▶ Marketing and promotion expenditures increased by €132k (27%), largely attributed to a niche advertising campaign and general media coverage for our programmes and reports. Financial investment continued for the .IE Digital Town awards programme, as part of a four-year €1 million programme approved by the Board to help digitalisation in Ireland’s towns. ▶ Employment costs increased by €469k (23%) in 2023 to €2.51 million reflecting: a 17% increase in the number of employees during the year; the recruitment of new skill sets to implement the Company’s new strategic initiatives; increased market rates associated with staff churn; and inflation-related cost of living salary increases for all staff. Prudent reserves management Within the parameters of the Company’s Reserves Management policy, we have Designated Funds which are set aside within reserves, to cover the Company’s commitments to its multi-year programmes. The programmes meet the Company’s enterprise risk criteria. They are regularly reassessed to ensure they remain within the corporate risk appetite and risk tolerance levels, approved by the Board, and reviewed annually as part of the formal Risk Management process. The programmes include the digital town initiative, our new centre of expertise in data analytics and our national digital development partnerships. These are closely aligned with, and support, the Government’s national Digital Strategies and include addressing the digital data deficiency. The latter is essential to help national policy decision-makers to design and implement initiatives to close the digital divides – prioritising urban-rural and socio-economic divides. The financial position of the Company at 31 December 2023 remains solid. Members’ Funds (reserves) increased marginally from €5.3 million at December 2022 to €5.4 million by the end of December 2023. Business Review At the end of 2023, there were 328,248 .ie domains on the database. There were 48,458 new registrations in the year, a marginal increase of 0.6% on 2022 (48,168). These registrations were offset by 49,476 non-renewals/deletions which were up 1% on 2022 (49,010 domains). This combined effect means that the small net decrease of 1,018 in 2023 compares unfavourably to the net decrease in 2022 (842 domains). On a positive note, we continue to gain market share against .com with .ie at 54.3% of hosted domains – and our metric of domains per capita is respectable – as detailed on page 24. IE Domain Registry CLG t/a .IE / Annual Report & Review 2023 5