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Ireland

EDRIX Score

3.75

Tier

Untapped Potential

EDRIX Pillar Scores (normalized 0–10)

Developer Ecosystem 6.84 / 10
Grassroots Adoption 3.72 / 10
Private sector resilience 0.00 / 10
Public sector resilience 4.44 / 10

Raw metrics

The underlying values before min-max normalization across the EU27.

GitHub developers (per-capita index) 4.36
Linux share on desktops and laptops 4.98%
Sovereign browser share (Firefox + Opera) 11.15%
Domain sovereignty rating — all (national TLD) 0.238
Domain sovereignty rating — public sector 0.444

See the surveyed domains and their hosting details →

Narrative updated for the September 2026 edition.

Ireland slips one place to 23rd at 3.75 (June: 3.88). The paradox is unchanged: a top-seven developer density (4.36, pillar 6.84) and the EU's fourth-highest desktop Linux share (4.98%), next to a private-sector pillar of exactly zero. Of the 489 measured .ie domains, 80% are hosted outside the EU, 75% on US-controlled providers (Cloudflare 32%, Amazon 18%, Microsoft 7%) and 3% on UK providers; 84% route email through non-EU providers. Dublin hosts the European data centres of AWS, Google and Microsoft, so Irish domains often run on Irish soil under US control; the index scores by the company that owns the network. The public pillar is 4.44: www.gov.ie is served by Amazon, www.president.ie and www.dublincity.ie by Cloudflare.

Strengths

  • Developer ecosystem (6.84, 7th).
  • Desktop Linux at 4.98% (4th).

Weaknesses

  • Private-sector hosting: 0.00, the lowest possible. Domestic hosting is led by the Irish Government's own network, Blacknight and Hetzner.
  • Public sector (4.44). The three official sites rate 0.67, 0.33 and 0.33.
  • Sovereign browser share of 11.15% (23rd).

Outlook

Ireland's private pillar is structural and will stay near zero. The public pillar is a choice: the government's own network already hosts 11 of the measured sites and could host the three official ones.

Historical context

2020 baseline

In 2020, Ireland was a "laggard," a position dictated by its unique economic role as the European home for major US tech firms. This resulted in a complete absence of any formal open source policy.

2024 progression

There has been a moderate increase in OSS usage, driven by a shift towards reusable digital solutions. The establishment of the Open Ireland Network (OIN) in 2021 provides a crucial community hub, but formal government recognition remains limited.

Historical reference

OSOR Fact Sheet (PDF, 2024) — the country-level Open Source policy report used by the retired Public Policy pillar in EDRIX 1.0.