Web Summit quits Dublin

smash wrote: »

That's only if there's an average spend of €3,600 per attendee which I assume there isn't, unless you factor in the costs of a web summit ticket, which doesn't go in to the Irish economy, it mostly goes in to Paddy's pocket.

It doesn't matter where the event is held, ticket money goes to Dublin unless he moves the company elsewhere. So ticket/sponsorship shouldn't be included in the "value".

Muahahaha wrote: »

Endas office said it was worth €108m to the economy per year, over 10 years it would have generated over €1bn. Its wrong to say its not a big event, it is one of the biggest of its kind

Would like a source or breakdown of that figure

It's quite clear that Paddy had decided to leave Ireland and the release of the email exchange is just a smokescreen to try to deflect any negative criticism onto the Government. His insistence that he didn't want a penny while at the same time presenting a list of demands to be paid for by taxpayers is very jarring. Also his pressuring for a plan for 2016 a full 15 months before the event also indicates they had already decided to go. His 4 asks of the Government were also red herrings:

1. A traffic plan: This is up to the organiser to develop and liaise with the council to implement. Paddy wanted someone else to do it.
2. Transport plan: same as above.
3. WiFi issues in RDS: nothing to do with Government as this is an issue with the supplier of the WiFi and the RDS.
4. Hotel Prices: again nothing to do with Government.

steddyeddy wrote: »

As I said the pharm industry make major contributions here and don't ask for nearly as much in return.

Are u up to speed on Reference drug pricing here in Ireland and the gouging that goes on based on big pharma being here.
Thought not

grundie wrote: »

I don't think this helps Mr Cosgraves case.

He's asking people at ministerial level to help him with stuff that he really should be dealing with himself.

Traffic issues? Speak to the Guards just like the FAI, GAA would do when planning a big game.

Public transport issues? Speak to CIE or private operators and be willing splash the cash to lay on extra services.

WiFi issues? Nothing to do with the government.

Hotels? Do what any other big conference organiser would do and negotiate competitive prices at specially selected hotels. Refuse to list any hotel on the summit website if they refuse to agree not to raise prices for the conference.

I read it as "I have all these problems that I really should be dealing with, but I want you to wave a magic wand and make them go away"

A standard ticket for the websummit is 725. He's complaing about hotel prices!!!!!!

The guy organising it seems like a complete knobend. He wants the city to organise everything for him.
But some people seem to think he wants any excuse to pull out of dublin. I disagree, I think he wants to keep it here, but he thinks he's going to shame DCC into keeping it here, Lisbon was a threat. One he didn't want to do. But the council didn't bend over for him so he had to follow through and move to Lisbon. Delighted for him.

sully2010 wrote: »

No fan of Pat Kenny but Adrian Weckler is nothing more than a suck up to Cosgrave and his type and I'm glad hes been put in his place. He is only interested in getting his free pass to the web summit so he can suck c**k with all the tech guys he truly wishes he was, instead he's a tech journalist who writes nothing but rubbish and for some reason thinks hes gods gift. Weckler, piss off to Portugal with your bum chum Paddy!
.

Listened to that interview on play back and also noticed a Twitter storm caused by Daire Hickey, a minority shareholder in Web Summit, reacting angrily to the Irish Times report on "support" by government bodies.

Weckler's line, and the one strongly implied by Hickey's denouncement of "wildly inaccurate, pathetic journalism and government spin" is that the government is being disingenuous by saying that the amount of money spent by Enterprise Ireland and IDA on the Web summit was "funding" and that what the state bodies were actually doing was buying stand space to promote their businesses like any normal client of the event.

Well OK. By that logic, then surely IDA and EI will invest a similar amount of money in the Portugese Web Summit as they have annually in the Dublin event. If it's a hard-nosed, business-led self interested investment in promoting their message and expertise the audience is all that matters, not the venue. Right?

Which is closer to the truth? We'll know when the FOI requests for how much IDA and EI spent on the Lisbon event are made and replied to.

Let's keep an open mind.