Communications watchdog Comreg will have the power to levy fines of up to €2,000 a day for regulatory breaches of Ireland's domain name .ie when it takes control of the registry under new legislation.
The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources said legislation providing for the transfer of regulation of the .ie domain name registry (IEDR) to Comreg is expected to go before the Cabinet shortly.
The new bill will provide for fines of up to €2,000 daily for non-compliance.
The Minister for Communications, Mr Ahern said: "The .ie name is Ireland's website address. As such it is in a sense a national resource. I want to ensure that Ireland's national domain name registry is in a position to thrive and benefit business and consumers alike.
I believe the transfer of responsibility to an organisation such as Comreg will immeasurably strengthen the operations of the registry. In addition, increased regulatory sanctions will ensure that those in breach of domain name regulations will be hit in their pockets."
Latest figures show there are almost 40,000 websites with .ie registrations.