Last month the High Court gave Internet providers UPC, Imagine, Vodafone, Digiweb, Hutchison 3G and Telefonica O2 30 days to block The Pirate Bay.

The decision was the result of a court case started by The Irish Recorded Music Association.

The labels claimed that the infamous torrent site was facilitating copyright infringement on a massive scale and the court agreed.

This week the 30-day period ends and the first ISPs including UPC have already implemented the block.

It appears that unlike in the UK the blockade is limited to the Pirate Bay. This means that affected users could easily bypass it by going to one of the many available Pirate Bay proxy sites.

At this point it is unknown whether the Irish music industry has plans to go after any other websites.