Web Summit used to ‘distract from real issues’

The co-founder of the Web Summit yesterday said the Government was continuing to use the tech event as a distraction from the real issues affecting people on a daily basis.

Paddy Cosgrave criticised the Government for the way in which a controversy surrounding the summit’s planned relocation to Lisbon developed, and said it proved to be a convenient distraction from other serious issues in the country such as homelessness.

“Ultimately, the Web Summit is not all that important at the end of the day to ordinary people’s lives.

“The way it has played out and the way it’s been spun and the lies that have been told by the Government, I think, are just a useful and practical distraction from the day-to-day beating that they take at the hands of the Irish media,” he said.

Mr Cosgrave said the funding offered by the Government to the tech conference was nothing more than “hush money”.

“They gave us over three-quarters of a million [euro] and consistently, year-after-year, we said that we were ultimately embarrassed that we were being given this money to pay for exhibition stands and that the state agencies responsible were doing absolutely so little to realise any return on investment,” he said.

He also criticised the lack of interest from government ministers and other Oireachtas members, saying they failed to avail of networking opportunities at the event.

“We were supposed to lavish the Government with 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 that this was an opportunity for Irish businesses and they did not take that opportunity,” he said.

.@paddycosgrave criticises the Irish govt as he explains his decision to move the #websummit to Lisbon. Listen back: https://t.co/vfMVp3Af69

— Morning Ireland (@morningireland) November 3, 2015

He praised foreign ministers for travelling to the annual conference.

“Ministers from all over Europe have been to this event and are coming this week without, I should state, ever being invited. They just know the event is on and make it their business to be here.

“What do they do when they come here? They look to meet with high-level attendees, they hold bilateral meetings with them and they try to develop relationships. Why do they do that? Because they’re interested in helping the businesses in their country ultimately.”

Mr Cosgrave, in an interview on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland, also said the three-day event had grown too big for Dublin and, while the 2016 event was scheduled to take place in Lisbon, he did not rule out a return to Ireland.

Meanwhile, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said yesterday it was “simply not the case” that the Government was only interested in the photo opportunities at the web summit as Mr Cosgrave had suggested.

“The enterprise agencies and the Irish Government have taken every opportunity to use any event like this to drive enterprise growth,” he said.

Mr Bruton also said he could see the merit in the Web Summit moving to another location for commercial reasons and wished the best of luck Mr Cosgrave and his team.