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Ireland

EDRIX Score

3.88

Tier

Untapped Potential

EDRIX Pillar Scores (normalized 0–10)

Developer Ecosystem 7.02 / 10
Grassroots Adoption 4.06 / 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) 4.38
Linux share on desktops and laptops 5.66%
Sovereign browser share (Firefox + Opera) 10.54%
Domain sovereignty rating — all (national TLD) 0.238
Domain sovereignty rating — public sector 0.444

See the surveyed domains and their hosting details →

Ireland places 21st at 4.16 — and the headline is the paradox the EDRIX algorithm captures honestly: Ireland has top-tier developer density (4.38 per-capita, top-7 EU27) AND zero on Private Sector Health. .ie has the EU27's lowest private-sector hosting rating at 0.28. Of the 200+ scanned .ie domains, only 31% are hosted in Ireland; 45% are US-hosted (AWS Dublin, Google Cloud, Azure). Ireland's status as a US-cloud datacenter hub means that even Irish-registered domains often run on Irish-soil US infrastructure.

Strengths

  • Top-tier developer density — 4.38 per-capita index, top-7 in EU27.
  • Above-average Linux desktop share — 5.66%, third-highest in the EU27.

Weaknesses

  • Worst private-sector hosting in the EU — .ie raw rating 0.28, normalised to DR_PRIV_SCT 0.0. Ireland's geographic location as a US-cloud hub structurally pulls the private sector toward AWS/Azure/Google.
  • Lowest sovereign browser share in the EU alongside Cyprus — 10.54%.

Outlook

Ireland's paradox is structural and won't reverse: Dublin's geographic position as the US tech industry's European front door means Irish-registered domains run on Irish-soil US-controlled servers. The EDRIX algorithm scores by ASN/country, so this shows up as low sovereignty — but it reflects a real geopolitical condition more than a policy failure. Ireland is, by accident of geography and corporate tax law, the EU's main US-tech datacenter footprint.

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.