:: "It's been pointed out umpteen times that ICAAN assigns domains to represent ISO countries/territories!!!" And each of those umpteen times it has been wrong. IANA assigns country code domains. IANA is responsible for determining an appropriate trustee for each ccTLD. Many ccTLDs predate the formation of ICANN too and ICANN is not in the business of deciding which country or territory gets what ccTLD. Now for the second error. "internet domains are not assigned to governments but to registrars" If you don't know the difference between a registry (the administrator of a TLD) and registrar (an organisation that registers domains on behalf of clients) then you really shouldn't be commenting on the mistakes of others. The DNS Root Zone is controlled by The US Department of Commerce but administered by IANA. Historically the position on .ie ccTLD was somewhat unclear with the relevant Minister having final say over the administration of the ccTLD. That was changed so that ComReg manages policy and IEDR administrates the ccTLD. The .ie ccTLD is still delegated to UCD's Computer Science department. The .ie ccTLD is a managed TLD where registrants have to meet certain conditions. This makes it quite different to open TLDs such as .tv and .me which permit global registrations. Registrants from NI can register .ie domains as easily as ROI registrants. The "significant connection" condition applies to registrants in Scotland, England and Wales. This makes .ie quite different to open or repurposed ccTLDs such as .tv and .me. The reason I have not engaged with Frenchmalawi's arguments is simply because they are, for the most part, based on misunderstandings and errors. At this stage, it is quite clear that many of us here are trying to keep Wikipedia apolitical and based on reality. Frenchmalawi's crusade to have NI's page changed purely for what appears to be a political agenda (though it could be just some strange obsession with NI) is wearing a bit thin.