Loss of Web Summit set to cost Irish economy up to €100m

The decision to relocate the Web Summit to Lisbon from next year onwards will cost the Irish economy tens of millions of euro and should act as a wake-up call to the need for improved infrastructure here, business bodies have warned.

Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave announced the decision to pull the plug on Dublin as the event’s host city from 2016 for at least the following three years and highlighted the quality of infrastructure Lisbon has to offer.

Describing it as a big decision that was difficult to make, Mr Cosgrave said the event, which has grown into Europe’s biggest tech gathering, was leaving Irish shores to continue that international growth.