With the final Web Summit to be held in Dublin now underway, founder Paddy Cosgrave opens up in the current issue of Hot Press to talk about the controversy surrounding its imminent move to Lisbon.
When it was put to Cosgrave that he obviouly was not impressed with the Irish government's response – Enda Kenny said he expected "that vacuum" to be filed by others in a relatively short time – he confessed that he was "saddened about it all."
"The reaction in Ireland by the government was not to talk to us, but to talk to the media as an intermediary to voters."
He noted, by way of contrast, the strong interest from other governments.
"We’ve been approached for a number of years to move the Web Summit – even after the first event in 2010, we held a meeting with another government, in another country. Over time, obviously as the event has grown beyond what anybody expected, the number of countries approaching us – and the value that they saw in the event for their cities – has increased."
Arguing that requests such as price limits on hotels and Garda escorts for VIP guests weren't unreasonable, Cosgrave said it was a question that we have to ask ourselves as a nation.
"Are we comfortable rolling out the red carpet for other people? Greeting them off a plane with a red carpet? When maybe we don’t roll out the red carpet for our own people. When you read the emails, the thrust of the emails is talking about trade. For me what is fascinating is that we don’t do trade as a country: we’re not a trading nation. As a consequence, the fact that the British were all over Web Summit whilst the Irish State were not doesn’t seem to have resonated at all. That’s the issue."
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