Irish Water Don’t Control Water.ie

As of midnight Irish households will have to pay water charges.

Every household in the country has been sent information about getting setup with the new water authority including getting an online account and paperless billing.

They’re using water.ie

But they do not control water.ie – it’s not registered to them and never has been. Irish Water is a subsidiary of Bord Gais but it’s a separate legal entity, so it would make more sense if the domain name was registered to them and not the “parent”. After the amount of public criticism levelled at the entity I’m sort of surprised that Bord Gais haven’t wanted to distance themselves even further. See here for example.

So what about the domain? It’s registered to Bord Gais Eireann:

whois water.ie

% Rights restricted by copyright; http://iedr.ie/index.php/mnudomregs/mnudnssearch/96

% Do not remove this notice

domain:       water.ie

descr:        Bord Gais Eireann

descr:        Statutory Body

descr:        Discretionary Name

admin-c:      AQE601-IEDR

tech-c:       AAV682-IEDR

registration: 26-November-2001

renewal:      26-November-2014

holder-type:  Billable

wipo-status:  N

ren-status:   Active

in-zone:      1

nserver:      dns-ie1.a9.ie

nserver:      dns-ie2.another9.eu

source:       IEDR

person:       Barry Murphy

nic-hdl:      AQE601-IEDR

source:       IEDR

person:       Help Desk Support

nic-hdl:      AAV682-IEDR

source:       IEDR

Based on data from HosterStats it looks like the domain has moved around a few times over the years, but has always been hosted by companies that generally serve semi-state bodies.