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My experience is the whole of ireland is split between .ie and .uk.
The general rule seems to be if its localised to ireland only they go .ie, if its a service for the whole of the UK they do .co.uk or .com, saying that many people can't get an .ie, I did the website for a doctor who was irish born but lived in the UK and setup his business here, and wanted to secure his .ie name for future expansion into his clinics back home and he was unable to gain it. So many like him just went with ie.clinicXX.co.uk mirrored on clinicXX.co.uk/ie/ and did it that way
Also cost is a factor in many new start ups choice.