Donuts has announced the acquisition of .IRISH gTLD. The transaction concluded last month and the company acquired the gTLD from Dot-Irish LLC for an undisclosed amount. This brings the total number of domains currently managed by Donuts to 198.
Donuts say that they plan to migrate the domain extension to their system on March 1, 2017. They also announced that they will make no changes to registration eligibility or terms, with .IRISH being operated in the same manner as all domains managed by Donuts.
The Registry added that all Donuts rights protection mechanisms, including protection by the Domains Protected Marks List (DPML) of standard-priced names representing trademarked terms will extend automatically to .IRISH.
Donuts said on their blog :
.IRISH is a welcome addition to the Donuts portfolio.
The domain represents a unique culture with a significant history and global influence, and we’re pleased to contribute to its ongoing availability.
Donuts is—and will continue to be—interested in acquiring domains that are useful and relevant to a significant demographic or population. In this spirit, we cheer the arrival of .IRISH.
It has been reported that the growth of .IRISH has been stagnant for a while. Since going into general availability in June last year, the extension managed to grow its zone file to about 2,300 names in the first year, which has dropped off to about 2,000 names.