We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Updated 12.30pm
THE CO-FOUNDER of Web Summit has hit out at the government today on the first day of the event which is expected to be attended by more than 40,000 people.
The three-day event this year has been somewhat overshadowed by the decision by organisers to move it out of Dublin and relocate to Portugal.
Email correspondence between government officials and Web Summit organisers revealed how the relationship deteriorated as the event’s founder raised concerns about traffic management, public transport, hotel costs and WiFi at the RDS.
At the weekend there was also controversy surrounding an apparent failure by organisers to invite the Taoiseach this year. However, it later emerged Enda Kenny had, in fact, been invited on Friday, but cannot attend because his schedule will not allow it.
Speaking to RTÉs’s Morning Ireland today, co-founder Paddy Cosgrave said he believes State funding in the last four years “amounts to nothing more than hush money”.
Essentially, we were supposed to accept this and then we were supposed to lavish the government in praise – which we did publicly for four years consistently – and what we did behind the scenes was try and push them time and time again to realise this was an opportunity for Irish businesses and they did not take that opportunity.
Cosgrave accused Irish politicians of turning up at the event merely to pose for photos while ministers from other countries were using it to arrange meetings with high-level attendees in order to drum up business.
Speakers
1,000 speakers are taking part in this year’s summit, including founders and employees of tech giants like Facebook, Google and Instagram.
Brenda Reginatto / Twitter.@PalmerLuckey talking about how virtual reality will eventually become more ubiquitous than smartphones #websummit pic.twitter.com/HoOiHjEyDM
— Brenda Reginatto (@b_reginatto) November 3, 2015
Etienne Mch / TwitterA preview of the size of the @facebook drone #Aquila #websummit pic.twitter.com/fNhkZEcVIQ
— Etienne Mch (@etienne_mch) November 3, 2015
The Bridge 1859 / TwitterOur own @jamieheaslip with @TikiBarber and @gergilroy at #WebSummit right now. pic.twitter.com/j1DNPdu83U
— The Bridge 1859 (@TheBridge1859) November 3, 2015
Meanwhile, Irish entrepreneur Oisín Hanrahan has secured $50 million in funding for his US-based start-up Handy.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Would paddy cosgrave ever just fcuk off. Going around the place like a rockstar expecting to have his arse licked at every available opportunity. Take your summit and stick it where the sun don’t shine.
Thanks for that. Note to self: must cut off nose to spite face.
@Wrath: correction, he is: where the sun DOES shine – Lisbon !!
The game is up for paddy cosgrave and his exploitative event. One manipulation too far when he ran to the media crying foul when he didn’t get all of his ridiculous demands, people now see right through him. The Irish Independent and Fionnan Sheahan have also disgraced themselves.
Inviting the Taoiseach (via email) to an event starting in 4 days time. Pretty sure his schedule will be full.
If you rang him to cut a ribbon at a opening of a lemonade stall tomorrow in mayo, he would be there by chopper….
I cannot see the Taoiseach cycling from Dublin to Mayo on a Chopper to open a lemonade stand.
Invite was sent to all TDs. That’s the way they’ve always done it before. He knew months in advance when it was on.
I heard he was promised a Fisher Price ‘My Big Computer’..but they didn’t hand it over…so Edna got in a huff…
Enda can’t make the meeting because:
a) He has a meeting with his boss in Malta
b) He has a meeting with his other boss in Germany
c) He’s dying his hair again
d) He thinks the Web has something to do with spiders and he has acrophobia
Answers on a postcard please.
Did “Inda” Not know this event was going on? Is he so special that he needed an Invitation?
They’ll need to get a few more lads to hold up antennae on the roof to strengthen t’internoid signal
Pathetic from Cosgrave again this morning, whining he had no meetings with Ministers. Left out -
1) Direct access to Dept of Taoiseach
2) Personal appearance by Taoiseach last year
3) €700,000 in Gov funding over last 4 years.
This spoilt and very, very rich man has made a ton of money gouging event goers (minimum price €1,250 a ticket???) for 4 years and now has the neck to demand free Leap cards for attendees and his own personal Garda Escort?
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Paddy.
1) Direct access to the Taoiseach’s assistant who did nothing over months of correspondence. 2) Taoiseach turns up at all these events. 3) Government funding!? They didn’t receive a cent of a subsidy. These were normal commercial payments for advertising and space paid by all of the government departments. More spin. The email thread was a shocking read
With the two for one voucher,I got my ticket for €380 so you’re minimum price there is bs Barry.
“Enda, I’m not looking for a penny, I swear.
I just need you to illegally put pressure on Dublin’s oldest philanthropic society, suspend free market economics for the hotel industry and provide a fleet of winged unicorns to fly me and my 50,000 friends home every night.
WHY WON’T YOU JUST CAVE INTO MY DEMANDS IMMEDIATELY????”
Wow €380 what an absolute bargain!! (sarcasm).
@ Dara
I hope it is worth it for you, Dara.
My info is directly from the site. Link – https://websummit.net/tickets
Standard price for an attendee (not early bird and not 2 for 1) is €1,245.
You may have got a limited offer deal on your ticket. Congratulations.
But a bog standard no frills ticket is €1,245 and if you don’t believe me, click the link.
He asked for a basic plan to ensure no disruption like what happened in 2014 when extra Gardai had to be drafted in at short notice to manage the traffic and crowds. If you read the emails they clearly said even a basic outline of a plan would be good enough for them to continue.
The prices are the same for all of the summits of this size. This is one week in the year where they get income. For the rest of the year they have no sales, only expenses. It’s a commercial event for businesses not individuals. Over 40,000 people are attending. Clearly it’s a success story and if their pricing was excessive then it wouldn’t get such massive crowds.
A huge loss for Dublin and Ireland.
@ Robert Power
It may be a loss to Dublin but it would entirely incorrect to say that Paddy Cosgrave is blameless in this.
He made the decision to move for commercial reasons.
The move will make this rich man even richer, and fair play to him. He is a businessman and good at what he does.
The endless spinning and whining is disgusting though. He made the decision to maove and he made it for more money. I’ve about as much sympathy for this “exile” as I do for DOB.
The Websummit clearly said they would stay if there was a basic plan. Why would they bother make such a big deal out of it if they had planned to move all along. They obviously didn’t.
He’s an entrepreneur who started this from scratch 5 years ago and you’re moaning that he’s been successful?! The only spin is coming from the Government who realise the mess they’ve made again. “Exile”, who is keeping the offices and jobs in Dublin….
Huge loss to Ireland.
Repped, completely expect this to fail in the next couple of years, it’s a total scam.
This thing seems like a complete scam. I remember applying for free tickets, which I never received. Instead I was bombarded with spam from this Paddy clown
That’s his job as organiser he should have anticipated the scenario they sold tickets ffs. The arranged with garda and the council to get an action plan in place. Seems to me he wants everything done for him and paid for him.
Robert, you’re not allowed to slag off Enda’s photo opportunities, or Enda, or the government. They are responsible for nothing, and want credit for everything.
The country has bent over long enough to support the summit let Cosgrave take a hike
400 in 2010 and now 40.000 , every year bigger numbers and thanks to the shambles here, next year 0.
125,000 at ploughing festival last year. Mind you, the organisers aren’t petulant children.
Elma hats off to the organiser of the ploughing championship able to organise such a successful event without spending the year pissing and moaning demanding freebies.
The ploughing is fantastic every year but its selling point is not the internet. The web summit is. It’s in the name. Decent WiFi and broadband in the capital would help not be an embarrassment. The gardai have diversions and road closures for the ploughing so wrath how are these freebies.
I think working WiFi is a basic requirement for a Web Summit…. And hardly looking for a freebie.
Websummit is a private company why is it up to the government to sort out the wifi?
They want the government to roll out the red carpet organise everything for them all for a summit that only the elites of the tech world can attend because of the extortionate price of tickets. Slan Paddy enjoy the weather in Lisbon and the extra cold hard cash it will put in your pocket.
And how many hotel rooms and restaurants were filled in Ballynowhere this year in account of the ploughing?
@cheney hahaha, who do you think bankrolls the ploughing championship, or does that happen for free?
Just to Clarify Elam….. The Ploughing managed to get 125k in 1 Day. 281k over the 3 days….. No problem with Wifi down there (in the middle of a field) and the NPA didn’t have to send an e-mail to Enda Kenny to get him to re-boot the Router at any stage.
Lets face it, the web summit has been unmasked over the last few months as a complete sham.
For the record the ploughing supplied high quality free wifi last year, to a much higher standard than the web summit. The ploughing has been live streamed successfully for the past 3 years, from a field in Laois. Traffic and hotels an annual problem at ploughing but the organisers aren’t throwing their toys out of the pram
As far as I’m aware there were more expensive WiFi packages available that the Web Summit opted not to pay for, the went with the cheap option then moaned it wasn’t working. Internet in Dublin is excellent generally
If this was something Dennis was organising there would be much more than a red carpet rolled out. No problems with security either. And if Dennis wanted to move it to Malta, Enda would be chasing him with wads of money.
U web dudes want to make money out of hot air….Facebook etc ….
Yeah free web dudes
Better wifi at the Ploughing too I believe.
paddy cosgrave, the answer to a question no one will ever ask
Without a shadow of doubt, this cosgrave chap is a complete wan&£er, pathetic Steve jobs wanna be with his cheap Woolly jumpers. I never thought I would agree with a single decision enda Kenny made but stay the fu@k away from this buffoons event, interesting not that many us networks reporting live from this event this year, perhaps it’s shine is looking It’s lustre
He thinks he’s starring in his own Aaron Sorkin screenplay.
I normally don’t defend the goverment much, but what kind of idiot send an invitation to the head of government of a Friday, and expects him to show up the following week. I sincerely wish Cosgrave, the money-grabbing guttersnipe, the worst of luck with Lisbon
I’m all for Government bashing and have done so many times in the past. But my god Paddy Cosgrave just stop talking already. His reputation is becoming a whinger which is not very becoming of a young hip entrepreneur tech type. Grand you didn’t feel like the Irish Government offered enough support. Move on.
He did
Why hasn’t Cosgrove been quizzed about the idea that it was him that bought up all the hotel spaces and sells them at an exorbitant profit, moany git who hoped Joe public would side with him
Look, Cograve was moving the thing in any event, no matter what, all such `conferences`, or grandly titled `summit`s move to exotic places, this is an artificial spat manufactured for further publicity.
40k nerds in one place – sounds a barrel of laughs
This guy is a moaner…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
My mate paid 1,250 for a ticket last year, said it was only alright, the money could be better spent.
The embarrassment of Macedonia having faster national broadband speed at a cheaper price must be keeping the business savvy Taoiseach away.
Not sure where you got that fact I looked up on Wikipedia and it seems we are 9th in the world I could not find Macedonia on the list
My broadband consists of this pay 35 euro if someone else uses it in the house at the same time as me it nearly crashes . 1 minute requirement time for loading of each page. I would question wikipedia data maybe the speed in the capital is fast in rural areas abysmal im sure more people will clarify. It is affecting business and job creation. I only say Macedonia because i have a friend down there working on their broadband upgrades and it will be faster nationally and cheaper than Ireland when they are finished.
I will trust the crowd reviewed source of Wikipedia rather than your Anecdotal evidence
Trust who you want but their is a 100 other articles who say our broadband is crap.
Link?
Maybe if you had to use Irish broadband you may think differently im sure the Chinese are well up to speed.
The link is business people in rural areas on the rte news begging for broadband upgrade do you watch it from China.
Thought so …enjoy your noodles.
Anecdotally ireland’s is much better. And according to the same Wikipedia article our average speed is nearly 3 times higher. Maybe just maybe the grass is not greener
That’s ireland’s is 3 times higher.
Thats great wikipedia will sort it all out so when you’ve started up a business and your broadband is so slow you lose your customers and have to offer cheap prices to try and keep them. Again Data is great send wikipedia down to where i live in Kerry the can see for themselves and then you can read it and then you will know .
Well I hope you get better broadband options soon.
20 quid for a burger on top of all the other charges and the WiFi is so bad you can’t even complain on line.
Weird amount of anger directed at a guy who organised an event that made some of the hottest startups pay attention to, and give an excuse to visit, Ireland. Are DCC in the office early or something? Lisbon has got the summit for 3 years. The UK are actively trying to attract it; flying delegates over and back. So don’t worry lads, someone will happily take this chore of a summit of us.
I hope they’ve plenty of vaseline.
Exactly and the Irish will have exported another hero and kept the trash and begrudgers at home.
Its a bizarre amount of invective for someone who wanted working WiFi, the ability for delegates to get around and maybe not pay excessive room rates. Its likely theres a few vested interests in this thread……and weirdos.
If he wanted working Wifi he shouyld have made sure he had it organised, the same as every other event company does that organises such events – it isnt the Governments or the tax payers role to supply Wifi to private events. Paddy has been quick enough to hike the price on tickets to his event as it has grown in popularity yet moans when the hotels raise their prices – again do a deal with a hotel group but dont expect the taxpayer or the Government to get involved in such commercial matters. Traffic plans, garda escorts etc all at the taax payers expense – cop onto yourself?? Organise it and pay for it like evey other event. 40000 people sounds like a huge amount but the reality is the Web Summit isnt even in the top ten events in Ireland in terms of attendance. The Six Nations games will bring far in excess of that to Dublin.
Not a fan of Mr Cosgrove but just checked prices for next years Web Summit (not that I would go ) prices range from €65.65 upwards and in Dublin for this years summit €179 upwards all based on 1 room 1 night 1 person.
Presume you mean Hotel prices? You do know that they will rise over the next year, as the event gets closer. Also, a bog standard ticket to the Websummit costs €1,245. Just for a regular attendee. It’s a bit rich to contain about hotels gouging when the price of a ticket is 6 times higher than the hotel.
I suspect that the Government would rather the Web Summit fail not that they have been embarrassed by it..
Wonder will FG let Enda go?
Maybe we could get funderland to fill the gap?
I see dick bruton will be there instead to save face for the gov eff up. I’d imagine if he gets the opportunity to speak, it’ll be something full of bluff like “Jobs, jobs, jobs, we’ve got jobs for everybody, jobs here, jobs there, jobs everywhere, jobs, jobs, etc, etc, etc…………..” Guy is full of sh_t, no substance.
Paddy cosgrave has got a bit of a god complex,
Piss off paddy!!!
Bigger issues to be worked on!!
I’ve not hated someone like him in absolute years. Not since Gavin Lambe Murphy.
We are a market research company that are surveying public opinion on the decision to move web summit to Lisbon in 2016. Have your say at http://www.websummit.ie
That’s great. Do ye have a landline per chance. Do you want my back details?
Typical useless government
It is interesting that President Higgins is not to address the Web Summit, which is to attract over 40,000 international visitors. His centre of gravity this week is to entertain his soul mate President Morales of Bolivia and to attend the FAI Cup Final. Our family silver is clearly very precious and must not be exposed in a sophisticated environment.
It’s the end of the thousand welcomes, we seem to prefer austerity to opportunity and progress.
There’s probably a middle ground here. Cosgrave shouldn’t be reliant on the government to provide WiFi at his event and force the hotels to cap their rates, and the authorities should be organising security and traffic controls that an event 40,000 people strong should be getting. We should also be critical of the government for not meeting with him (per those emails) to sort this out, and for not taking advantage of something like this being in our backyard.
A tech genius at the cutting edge who thinks we still use pennies. Oh, the irony!
Hush up and get lost so!!!
A friend of mine has gone there to seek funding for a business idea. If and when his business is worth X he will possibly think it was worth the £1250. Not to mention all the networking he will do. It is not about valuing it like a day at Glastonbury. Access across a lot of IT services in one day make it good value for a business.
there are no winners here. I doubt it will be as big a success in Lisbon, who has their HQ there – it has taken Ireland decades of investment in Irish-American business relationships to have the base in place for US tech (and pharma) to feel comfortable with Dublin. Paddy Cosgrave and the government are making a mock of it. By the way the last time I saw so many companies in one location making so little profit was tech conferences in the late 90s. be careful what you wish for! too much easy money knocking around at the moment to fund the next start up. most will fail. don’t let that destroy entrepreneurship but industries top out on greed and hubris.
We can’t compare website designers and developers but they come across to make website and we can’t compare it with sumo wrestling.ivr services
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say