The county's European domain name, www. kildare. eu, was auctioned online on eBay last Friday with a starting price of 3,500, but a highly anticipated bidding war failed to materialise. Nor did Kildare County Council, which operates www. kildare. ie, attempt to buy the site. Instead, one bid was made and the site was duly sold for the asking price to a New Zealand-based buyer.

The seller of the address, who is believed to be a Kildare-based web developer, was hoping to make between 30,000- 40,000 for the site, which she bought for 10 a year when the new European domain names were sold on a lottery basis in April. Under EU regulations, buying and holding domain names in the hopes of selling them later is illegal, but the practice has become more and more widespread.

"Become the owner of one of the best addresses in Ireland, " the seller wrote on eBay. "This is a rare opportunity to become the owner of increasingly valuable online real estate. Nationally and internationally, this name is a winner."

Since the EU launched European domain names earlier this year, there has been a scramble among many businesses and councils to acquire their domain name before they are 'warehoused' . . . bought by another person who hopes to sell the site back to them at an inflated price.

Since 7 April, any individual or company with an address in the EU has been entitled to register a domain name that has not already been secured.

Enda Kenny, Mary Harney, Michael McDowell and Martin Cullen all lost their domain names to squatters, while www. sinnfein. eu is now registered to a company in Sweden.

And www. labourparty. eu and www. greenparty. eu, which could legitimately have been registered to political parties in a number of European countries, have been registered by a company in Cyprus. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was the only politician to purchase his domain name before it was too late.

The seller of Kildare. eu claimed that 16 county councils around the country had bought their EU domain names, but the Sunday Tribune found just four councils which had purchased their addresses directly from the EU . . . Wexford, Limerick, Meath and Kilkenny county councils. The majority of county domain names are inactive, with a couple, including Dublin and Wicklow, being used for advertisements.

Kildare County Council confirmed that, while it knew the domain name was being sold last week, it had no interest in acquiring it. "We didn't buy it, " said a spokesman.

"We have nothing further to say about it."

The identity of the website buyer is unknown except that they are New Zealand-based, but as the owner of www. kildare. eu, they can now use the website for any purpose they wish. However, with the EU cracking down on 'warehousing', they could find themselves in trouble.

Just last week, it emerged that 74,000 '. eu' names have been frozen because of fears that a New York-based syndicate broke the law by stockpiling names with the aim of selling them on later for a profit.

The European Registry of Internet Domain Names (EURid) has accused three UK firms, Ovidio, Fausto and Gabino, of acting as a front for 400 registrars based in New York. Sites using the 74,000 domain names will not be blocked but their resale will be stopped. EURid has asked a Belgian court to return the names so they can be distributed to new applicants.

Domain names judged to have a special commercial value have been known to change hands for large sums of money. Earlier this year the sex. com domain name was reportedly sold for more than $12m ( 9.4m).

How the Kildare site could have attracted a bid of 3,500 is unknown, but according to its seller, it will bring the buyer endless prestige. "Consider how this name could add to your business success, " she said. "It is memorable, brandable and linked to one of the most beautiful counties in the world."