I've been considering buying a domain name for a (notional) start-up and decided to look into the costs of getting the name I want. And I've been left with my jaw hanging down. Take for example this domain name search at hosting 365.ie, which I carried out just to see the differences between the costs, using a random name: 'weeeee'...
weeeee.org is 8.95 for one year. weeeeee.ie is 69.95. Just take a second to look at that. One is less than a tenner. The other is seventy euros.
So, will I be buying a .ie domain for my (still fictional and embryonic) web venture? Will I fuck.
This is yet another classic example of rip-off Ireland and its grasping middle men. I'm not blaming hosting 365 here either: this is simply indicative of what a colossal fucking scam the Republic of Ireland has become.
Can anyone please explain to me why I should be asked to pay that money for a .ie domain? Can anyone give me one good reason why I should even think about starting a business in Ireland? Can anyone give me a single reason why I should ever have anything to do with that corrupt little shit hole and it's tax-dodging, bung-grabbing banana republic politicians, it's posturing terrorists, crawling journalists, scumbag property developers, thieving filth-bag estate agents and the scandalous, stealth-tax regime that is crippling small businesses whilst the government falls over itself to accommodate fat-arsed American golfers and their mass-murdering military wing? Anyone?
There are days I'm proud to be Irish. And days it makes me want to puke. Today, when I see the ridiculously inflated prices of even the smallest component required in setting up a business, is one of the latter.

Not all domain registration companies charge that much. If you shop around you will get .ie domains for much lower prices.