A Fine Gael spokesman confirmed that the party will be challenging the right of a David Voakes of Tallaght, Dublin, to own the 'www.

endakenny. eu' address. The opposition party fears that the name was registered so that it could be sold at a profit to Fine Gael, or worse, used to smear Kenny in the run-up to the next general election.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte's name, meanwhile, has been registered by the Irish Daily Star newspaper. A Labour party spokesman said the newspaper had told the party it did so to protect Rabbitte's name "against unscrupulous cybersquatters who might use it as a porn site". The spokesman said the party would not challenge the newspaper's move and saw no reason even to apply to get its leader's name registered under the new . eu domain.

But Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is well ahead of his political opponents, at least in cyberspace. The address 'www. bertieahern. eu' was registered last December by the Department of the Taoiseach.

'Taoiseach. eu' has also been registered by the department, but 'Tanaiste. eu' is still available to anyone prepared to pay the �?�12.50 registration fee.

Irish cities have been less successful than the Taoiseach in protecting their identities.

Though Dublin city council applied to register 'Dublin', it failed to provide the documentary evidence within 40 days to back up its claim to the name. This is required by Eurid (www. eurid. eu), the organisation charged with overseeing the registration of . eu addresses. Consequently, 'www. dublin. eu' is now registered to a Raul Garcia of the Lantec Corporation in Paris.

Cork city council still has some chance to wrest its city from a Dutch internet company, but a Wolfgang Stoeger in Austria has registered 'Galway'.

Even 'shamrock' has gone to a Dutch-based web company but Ireland still has 'paddy', which was registered by Irish Distillers, makers of 'Paddy' whiskey.

The scramble for the key internet addresses followed the EU's decision finally to launch the eagerly-awaited . eu domain address across the 25 states. But in what turned out to be a fruitless effort to thwart cybersquatters trying to hijack famous names and then hold the rightful owner to ransom, Eurid established a fourmonth 'sunrise' period in which trademark owners could apply for an . eu address before they were released to the public. The trademark owner had to back up its claim with documentation and there was then a 40-day period in which the registration could be challenged. Otherwise, it was 'first come, first served'.

One of the most keenlyfought contests for a domain name was for 'polo'. Volkswagen, which makes the VW Polo car, won out over fashion house Ralph Lauren, which has the 'polo' line of clothing, by just three minutes and 25 seconds. Nestle, which manufactures Polo mints, trailed in third more than five minutes behind VW.

Almost 300 applicants applied for the most coveted address in cyberspace, 'sex'.

As an indication of the high sell-on value of key generic website names, this year 'sex. com' was sold at auction for �?�12m, making it the most expensive domain name in the world.