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“OH AND ONE more thing – Mayo for Sam.”
Those were the words that US President Joe Biden chose to round out his four-day trip to Ireland.
The Mayo team has not won the coveted Sam MacGuire cup in more than 70 years, despite reaching the final – and losing – 11 times since 1989.
Playing to the Ballina 27,000 strong crowd, Biden knew well such a line would go down well. And he was right.
The crowds went wild as U2′s It’s a Beautiful Day played out.
Anticipation of the president’s visit to the town built up throughout the day, with crowds queueing for several hours down towards the Moy riverfront and St Muredach’s Cathedral that framed the US President’s speech.
“Welcome home Joe” signs dotted the roadside on the way into the town, with US flag bunting flying outside many a business establishment.
Those waiting waved their Irish and US miniature flags and the rain didn’t seem to dampen the spirits.
Around 10,000 tickets were allocated for the public event in Ballina, but the numbers far exceeded that. A VIP area, to the left of the bullet proof glass, had seating for distinguished guests such as former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, former Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his wife, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and Business Minister Simon Coveney to name but a few.
In just a short space of time, three people including a young child and an older lady, had to be lifted over the barricades at the front of the stage where Biden was to appear.
‘Mayo for Sam’: the crowd goes wild 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Etixx2ObWy
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) April 14, 2023
While the schedule was running behind, the public got to enjoy music from The Academic, The Coronas and The Chieftains, with Irish dancing breaking out in the crowds, to keep the spirits up in the dropping temperatures.
In dramatic style, the president’s Marine One helicopter swept over the heads of the crowd.
After Taoiseach Leo Varadkar hailed Biden as the “most Irish of all American presidents”, a silence swept across the crowd before the announcement of the US president.
He walked onto the stage to the sound of Dropkick Murphy’s I’m Shipping Up From Boston.
Opening his speech outside Saint Muredach’s Cathedral Biden tonight, he said: “It feels like coming home.”
The US president hasn’t been shy to voice his love of Ireland on this trip.
Throughout this trip, he’s been criticised for not showing as much love for his English side, though he has made reference to it at times throughout the week.
Probably not doing himself many favours in that regard, Biden referenced his father, and how it was a “saving grace” in the eyes of the Finnegans on his mother’s side, there was a Hanafees from Galway on his mother’s side.
He said it rescued the fact “Biden is an English name”.
He also made such a reference in Dundalk earlier in the week, when he said “you know, Biden is English. I hate to tell you that”. He laughed before adding: “I don’t hate to — I’m joking, but it’s true.”
He told those that had gathered along the River Foy tonight that there are many other Irish-Americans that would only love to return home to the old sod.
The president also referenced one of the most poignant moments in today’s events, when he unexpectedly met the priest who gave the last rites to his son.
Beau Biden, the president’s son, died in 2015 after a two-year battle with brain cancer.
The Parish priest of Knock, Fr Richard Gibbons, told the BBC today the chaplain, Fr O’Grady, who performed the last rites sacrament to Beau Biden now works at the Knock shrine in Co Mayo where the president paid a visit today.
Biden told the crowd this evening that “out of the blue” he met the former military chaplain who worked at Walter Reed Medical Hospital of Washington.
“It was incredible to see him, it seemed like a sign,” he said.
The president also referenced a visit he made earlier in the day to the Mayo Roscommon Hospice, where there is a plaque in memory of his son Beau.
Biden turned the first sod on the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation project in 2017.
He said: “I can tell you how special it is that a piece of his legacy lives here among his ancestors.
This is the third trip to Ballina by Biden, but his first as president of America.
Standing on the podium this evening, where the rain thankfully stayed away, it was clear that this was a personal moment for the president.
“Everything between Ireland and America runs deep; our history, our heritage, our sorrows, our future, our friendship. But more than anything, hope is what beats in the hearts of all our people.
“For centuries during times of darkness and despair, hope has kept us marching forward toward a better future, one of greater liberty, greater dignity and greater possibilities.”
He said: “My friends, people of Mayo, this is a moment to recommit our hearts, our minds, our ardent souls to the march of progress.
“To lay the foundation brick by brick by brick, for a better future for our kids and our grandkids, one of greater liberty, opportunity and dignity just like our ancient ancestors did for us.
“I’ve never been more optimistic and I’ve been doing this a long time.”
Telling the crowd visiting Ballina felt like going home, he continued: “Over the years, stories of this place have become part of my soul, part of my family lore.”
Biden said he and his siblings were raised with “a fierce pride in our Irish ancestry”.
“A pride that spoke to both the history that binds us but more importantly the values that unite us,” he said.
“To this day I can still remember hearing my dad say at the dinner table, ‘Joey, everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect’, I can still hear my mom tell me, ‘Joey, nobody is better than you but everybody is your equal’.”
There is no doubt that this trip has had a shovel-load of paddywhackery and ‘malarky’, as the US president put it yesterday, and some are not too pleased about it.
Climate activist group Young Friends of the Earth Ireland held a protest outside the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin today, condemning Biden’s approval of the Willow Project, an oil drilling project in Alaska.
Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Biden said Ireland and the US both have a “commitment to fight climate crisis to preserve our planet for future generations”.
“The single existential threat to the world is climate change,” he said, however, there’s no doubt that once he departs Ireland tonight, the carbon emissions from his flights from Belfast to Dublin to Knock will be totted up.
Criticism has also been levelled from People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy and his party colleagues, who have hit out at the president using the Oireachtas as his own personal “soapbox” with no opportunity for critical questions from themselves or the media.
No opportunity has been afforded to put the hard questions to the US president on this trip, but such a thing did not appear to bother crowds in Ballina this evening – the excitement that the spotlight and all eyes were on their small town tonight.
Hard questions will be asked of Biden though in the weeks and months ahead.
Before boarding Air Force One this evening, Biden said that he has decided to run for a second term and will announce his campaign “relatively soon”.
His trip to Ireland has reinforced his sense of optimism about what can be done. Four more years of the Joe Show? Stranger things have happened.
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Numerous unanswered messages and e mails to an Irish government body or politician? I don’t believe that for a second!!!
typical irish government got its priorities completely arseways.
Ireland, a great country to do business, now who said that?
Google.
Apple.
Good luck with your web summit!
Last time I was in Lisbon (circa 6 months ago) the hotels were astronomically priced (due to local football match!) and weren’t a touch on the standard of hotels here!
I don’t know what they’re talking about wifi – good luck in Lisbon, you have to pay for wifi EVERYWHERE! Hotels charge a separate rate, airports have a charge, half decent cafe’s do to and their internet is slower than anything I’ve ever experienced, more timeouts than the superbowl trying to login to gmail!
And I wouldn’t go around waving my laptop, cell phone, new technology out there, I know people who’ve had their faces slashed by pick pockets –
Frommer’s: “Lisbon used to be one of the safest capitals of Europe, but that hasn’t been true for a long time. It’s now quite dangerous to walk around at night. Many travelers report being held up at knifepoint. Some bandits operate in pairs or in trios. Not only do they take your money but they demand your ATM code. One of the robbers holds a victim captive while another withdraws money. (If the number proves to be fake, the robber might return and harm the victim.) During the day, pickpockets galore prey on tourists, aiming for wallets, purses, and cameras. Congested areas are particularly hazardous. Avoid walking at night, especially if you’re alone.”
Giving out about our traffic!! Wait until you experience Lisbons!
Travel guide: Driving in Lisbon is challenging, as it is possibly one of Europe’s most difficult cities to drive in. The roads are narrow and old, drivers are inpatient and erratic, signage is almost non-existent and parking is notorious. Driving in Lisbon is not a fun or enjoyable experience and visitors should really consider if they want to drive in the capital.
Good luck with your Web summit!
HP, Microsoft, Intel, Dell…….
Everything you say is 100% true but maybe they replied to emails and came up with a plan as requested!
Web Summit got €700,000 in government funding –
Three of the four main demands PC had were for issues the government had no control over – Wifi, hotel prices and (short term) public transport. It beggars belief that he would look for the Gov to impose state controls on the hotel industry.
And how can he possible claim he “wasn’t looking for a penny” when everything he asked for cost money?
This was a private businessman trying to screw out the best deal for his company and fair play to him, he did.
….Cosgrave described Callinan’s response as “misleading”.
Any relation of Martin Callinan, I wonder?
Typical clowns in irish govt. Simple as. He should have went on joe duffy…
Jesus its a joke of a country. Fkkkk you FG.
RDS wanted 1 Million to use their wifi for a few days and would let them use their own – that’s just outrageous.
They wanted the same level of traffic management a football match would get – reasonable request – should have been easy to lay on a few more darts for the days of something.
They wanted some assurances the hotels couldn’t scalp visitors with a 600% premium – thats unfair but doubt any thing could be done on that.
I agree with you! Lisbon no the best city in the world
Are ppl just going to roll out the cliches here and not even look at his list of demands? I’m all for kicking the govt but they did the right thing here. He wanted free public transport for all the millionaires that would be at it. Meanwhile he’s employing people via job-bridge and charging extortionate ticket prices. He wanted Dublin shut down essentially and wanted govt to intervene and control things they simply couldn’t. As is the norm with these tech entrepreneurs he wanted to be treated like some sort of royalty. I say well done govt for not being taken for mugs. Enjoy Lisbon Paddy.
On September 10 everyone in government was too busy claiming at least 5k refugees to deal with this business
I didn’t see a list? Or anywhere asking for free transport..adding on..
He wanted a Leap Card for all the attendees who were staying in Dublin. He wanted complimentary rental of Dublin City Hall and Wood Quay. Garda escorts for VIP’s. City centre branding for 2 week run up. Roads closed with parking permission suspended. And he wanted it all for free of course. This guy thinks he is Barack Obama or something. Off to Lisbon with his oversized ego.
Get bent Paddy. You’re right Diarmaid, seems like Paddy threw a tantrum.
Went to the Web Summit last year, thankfully via work, it actually is one of the most overpriced load of pap going. It makes money via these extortionate ticket prices. I work in the web industry, and most of the people there were salespeople. They only wanted to know/speak to you if they could sell to you, or in some way make money from you.
Many of the exhibitors were offering the same stuff, Social Media analytics tools… great.
I like going to conferences where I actually take something positive away from it. Web Summit for me personally was not something I enjoyed.
I’m in Portugal as we speak using unlimited FREE WiFi and there’s plenty of great public transport and private run companies that can easily manage to provide top class transport to and from the summit. well done Lisbon on securing the contract. at least you have an efficient public service that can provide a plan and get back to you in a timely manner.
Linda, is the free wi-fi preventing you from reading? We have plenty public transport too, just not all that gone on giving it for FREE to people who can afford €5k for a platinum ticket.
This is a little unfair. Yes, Lisbon has chronic traffic problems (mostly because the Portuguese are lunatic drivers rather than the quality of the roads) and a visiting tourist would be crazy to rent a car and drive in the city. However, it does have an infinitely better public transport system than Dublin. Its subway system is clean, efficient, and inexpensive. In addition, taxis are numerous and cost a fraction of what their counterparts charge in Dublin. I have visited Lisbon on numerous occasions and have never experienced the internet problems that you refer to. On the question of crime, it may be a problem and I certainly hear complaints that the police do not do enough to safeguard tourists in the city. Like all big cities, there are common-sense precautions that you need to take when you are out and about: certain areas to avoid, not have valuables on display, etc. I’m sure the same applies in Dublin. Pick-pocking on trams in Lisbon is notorious.
He confirmed yesterday on the Last Word that he didn’t get any funding, all that spend was for stands at the events or for dinners/speakers to promote Ireland and the IDA itself.
But why shouldn’t he expect support? How much did we pay to attract College Football to Croke Park? How much do we subsidise pay for multinationals to set up business here?
…….SUNSHINE….
This is absolutely pathetic by the govt. Complete swine. I pay you a lot to answer those emails.
Absolute idiots … Shame we lost it…
The fact they couldn’t even respond to a few emails on (On serious event) says a lot about our “waste of oxygen” politicians …
Fools
“Enda, I’m not looking for a penny, 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????”
Some of the comment about Cardiff and the rugby below are rather ironic in light of this. The organiser is on with Mary Wilson now and one of the three major problems he says that they faced was price gouging by hotels!
Nice they have an event though.
He claims the hotels were gouging???? The ticket prices started at 675 and went up to 4500……. yeah the hotels were the only ones gouging. Also its not like hotels in every other city in the world don’t take part in this for large events. Just look at the price of a room in cardiff on a match night. The hotel thing is a white elephant and theres nothing the government could have done on it
What about all of the suppliers that he gouged. And the attendees who felt scammed?
http://tech.eu/features/6244/web-summit-scam-well-ask/
He used the same high pressure sales techniques on the government as he did on attendees. Making limited time offers and threats.
Interesting article James.
We will have to see if it changes when it moves to Lisbon
On the wifi issue, seemingly the RDS offered a number of packages and Paddy went for the cheapest and threw his toys out of pram when it went tits up.
indeed …hotels are grabbing idiots at times like these
This has all the hallmarks of a choreographed set-up by Cosgrove to mitigate the negative publicity of an intended move anyway. Good few commentators here seeing through it though and the usual whine bags buying it.
Oh com’on James…how did he choreograph the replies?
@Al Ka – do you really not know that? Ok if I must tell you – you make requests which elicit predictable responses.
Is this another case of the taxpayers money been provided to get this off the ground in the early years, once established they then fly off to the highest bidder? Something not just right about this, we need to hear the other side of the story. How much money did the govt pump in over the years etc etc
James I was listening to The Last Word with Matt Cooper today. Paddy was on. This was a question Matt asked and Paddy said they were offered just 1 package only.
Is this “summit” like those phony ones in China and the Far East that keep spamming me with those “call for papers emails”
Do they claim to have the internet in a box thingy….
Paddy Cosgrave’s sole purpose is to make a profit, he a businessman, an entrepreneur. In 3 years time he may well move the Web Summit to London or Paris if he’s offered favourable deals there, the thing is wherever it’s hosted and whatever deals are done they will be designed to be favourable to him and his company, not the start ups.
Young and hopeful startups are sold a dream that they need, indeed they absolutely must attend the Web Summit, failing to attend will very likely sentence their company to a swift death before it’s even gotten off the ground. Those who do attend can expect to meet, mingle and mix with the people they could previously only dream of meeting, the rich, the famous the powerful. We’re talking CEO’s, VP’s, VIP’s, Presidents, Producers, Partners, Managers, Founders, Journalists, Directors, Editors, the rich, the famous and lots and lots of potential investors for their start up. All they need do is come up with the fee. What, a few grand for a golden ticket, this is business, you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to play with the big boys. Don’t forget the VAT on that, you wouldn’t want us to get in trouble with the government would you?
https://www.yellowschedule.com/blog/web-summit/an-irish-start-ups-experience-of-the-web-summit/
Firstly start-ups going through EI, Enterprise boards or SEEP programs received complementary tickets or heavily discounted tickets based on their business suitability to attend the web summit. Secondly, whilst you hear from disgruntled attendees and non attendees, there are many that benefited massively from attending. Anyone blabbering who did not attend should keep their opinion to themselves. a percentage that did attend redesigned their business models to increase their possibility of success. Setting up a profitable successful start-up is a difficult task and not something that can be easily achieved. The Web Summit assisted many who got the opportunity to talk with successful entrepreneurs. The event is what you make of it, if that means that there are sour grapes so be it.
Paddy did a tremendous job and wants to make it bigger and better, he is neither a politician nor a magician and cannot pull RABBIT from his arse. Credit where credit is due, he achieved allot for Ireland attracting multi-million dollar corporations into the country, showcasing some of the best from our country than any other event in Ireland.
I was at the WS last year and when I heard the rip off prices Paddy the victim was charging these starry eyed young people for his chip board stand and sheds I came away so sorry for these kids and I wonder how many of them today can say they got benefit from Paddy and his circus .
I am glad the govt stood up this little upstart and sent him packing to Lisbon where he can take his few super wealthy suckers to see the shanty town residents living on scraps on the edge of the city .Paddy is the one who F….ked up and now that he realises this he is trying damage limitation by mud slinging .
‘not looking for a penny’
Huh?
They wanted:
- Free use of venues including City Hall, Wood Quay venue, Herbert Park and others he didn’t name
- Garda escorts for VIPS (with normal fees waived)
- Shuttle buses to be provided by Dublin Bus, free of charge
- Closure ot three city centre streets for a party
- Leap cards for all attendees, to be provided free of charge
So no, no pennies, just a LOT of costs not borne by his company.
Think of the leap cards alone – free Leap Cards for at least four days for each attendee will run to many hundreds of thousands of value. So that he can add this boon that cost him nothing to his marketing of his very high ticket prices.
And the hotel gouging thing is a bit rich too. Bear in mind what the company Paddy runs is – a private, most definitely for profit, event management company whose ticket prices for this particular event start at almost €750. Or you can pay €625 for admission to the commercial exhibition ONLY, an exhibition where exhibitors have paid many thousands to have a presence. You have to admit that’s a kind of genius alright. Tickets then rise steeply to several thousand.
And he has the nerve to look for other private companies to have their prices controlled – and for what purpose? Why, to ensure he can sell more of those very high priced tickets.
Lisbon, frankly, is welcome to his over-priced, over-hyped event.
At the same time he was ringing suppliers asking them to work for free in return for having a banner up in the RDS.
Bloody entrepreneurs! The Luddites were right..
So happy someone of intelligence is talking here! Thank you!
Judging by the correspondence and the timeline, the deal was signed from the 21st of August.. All these replies he’s speaking about are from the 23rd on.. So why did he keep it going??
I have no doubt in my mind that judging by his outrages entry prices, vendor fees that he may have not been looking for money but instead crazy demands.
also the first one was at 9 o’clock on a Friday night, and he pinged again on Monday that he didn’t get a reply… but then mentions that he has been having lots of meetings with state bodies prior to this email tantrum? seems like a cover up… I’ll ask him at the summit next month (oh, I forgot, those guys just zip in and out, while the investor guys just laughed at the pleb startups)
I thought paddy cosgrave was awful on Mary Wilson. He sounded like a child having a tantrum.
At the time,I thought it was about the money..turns out it was government indifference /incompetence,take your pick..way to go Enda..knowledge economy my hole..
That sums up the whole situation Kieran.
It seems to me that Paddy and his team decided quite some time ago to leave Dublin and were preparing the ground for it, conscious that there would be negative reaction to their decision. The e-mails to the Taoiseach’s private secretary and John Callinan are too full of sound bites that could easily be lifted by the media. Yes, the Government probably should have acted with greater urgency, but when you read the table of actions proposed by the Government (Appendix 1) and the letter from Peter Finnegan of Dublin City Council to other stakeholders (Appendix 4), you see a credible plan and a sincere desire to assist Web Summit. And one of the four issues that Paddy keeps banging on about – WiFi – is clearly a matter between Web Summit and the RDS. How on earth did he think the Government should resolve a private contractual matter of that nature? Very good PR, though, I hand it to them!
Good PR? He’s getting hammered on the radio, boards, broadsheet and twitter.
they’re not trying to impress the Irish IT crowd though, they think they’re bigger than any company in Ireland, and only want to impress the big guys in California who they think they are peers with. they’re in for a culture shock if they get all of that “mobile world congress” style services in Lisbon, and the big guys stop coming… the attraction of the founders event was the privacy of Dublin, not the thousands of startups or the WiFi for journalists in a hall.
no such thing as bad publicity….
No excuse for this, absolutely outrageous we lost the web summit.
Enda at the time acted as if it was a surprise.
Destroying our country by the day. Wasteful budget, now this
It’s a shady scam and damaging to our reputation. Delighted to see it go.
Of course they would have gone to Lisbon anyway, you don’t arrange a move like that in a month that passed between the first letter and the announcement to move. Thery were negotiating with other cities for years and kite flying for months, and now use the correspondence to shift the blame.
That’s not to say that the government did their bit, they didn’t. But the move was on regardless so it’s just spin. Perhaps as a result there will be better arrangements for other, smaller events. As for the Web Summit anyone could see that the event outgrew the RDS in previous years, I have no idea how they are going to squeeze even bigger crowds in this year, it’s going to end up in tears again. I suppose that you’re not turning people away if you’re charging several grand for a ticket and now they can try and promise that next year it will be different – until they overcrowd the venue again.
Ye, well done James, a scam that generated huge interest at home and abroad, launched companies, drove millions into the economy and was attended by top businessmen and women including Elon Musk, a billionaire genius who is at the forefront of the tech business. Ye, he falls for scams all the time James. Why dont you take a few more steps to the ‘democratic’ left there James, preferably while standing at the end of a very short pier. Id much prefer to see you and your Democratic Left Alliance head off to Portugal than lose the Web Summit. They add to the economy. you lot do not.
gastrophase…of course he was working to find alternative venues just in case the Dublin one wasn’t going to improve, he be called a bad business person to place all his eggs in one basket and the thing was cancelled altogether or ended up again like last year. Sure he looked elsewhere but no contracts were signed and the Government reps stalled and flustered, if you read the emails, he really did want it to stay in Ireland. To show how it should be done you just have to look at the response from Lisbon….professional and it shows they see the value of it.
https://files.websummit.net/correspondence.pdf
Oh I agree that it was rational to look elsewhere, I just don’t believe that they would have stayed in Dublin even if they were handed the keys to the city. The venue they booked in Lisbon is ready for 80k audience, and this is how they need to grow to compete in the league they want to be at. There is no such venue in Dublin and the whole of Ireland, simple as that.
Out of last year’s experience they government could have helped with additional transport/traffic options, but they could not sort out the overcrowding, the wifi or the hotels – all private business arrangements between consenting parties. He could have blamed the Irish business culture but he won’t – this will not get him any sympathy, whereas blaming “the government” will.
On reflection, the best way to express an Irish sentiment would be to leave a smaller quirkier spin-off of the original WebSummit here in a kind of “off-Broadway” way, which really would be back to their roots for them because this is how it worked at the beginning before they scaled it up so much. Audience 10k max. This would be easily handled while the main event would be off to Lisbon to conquer the world. So perhaps we lost that.
But for their core business they were always aiming much higher so I call BS on them claiming to be forced out.
That would make sense gastrophase.
Agreed, the services at their “new venue” aren’t a patch on ours!
Why can’t we have a conference on the same day?
Let’s compete – I’ve never paid for tickets to Mediacast or any other seminar / conference!
We’ll get Virgin Media to Sponsor the Broadband, Intel to run the tech part, Microsoft, Apple etc etc..
We’ll give the tickets away free and bring in experienced investors!
Paddy likes to know so now Paddy knows .GOOD LUCK PADDY .
Just some selective snippets for Paddy’s PR. Let’s face facts, the reason he is going is because he got a good (probably cash) offer from a different city.
Fair enough the man is out to make money, but don’t pretend like it’s other people’s fault your moving.
He got 1 million from Lisbon.
He is going to live in Portugal and pay very low tax.
Here Graham, he released all the correspondence not just select snippets….. https://files.websummit.net/correspondence.pdf
Notice how he claims its not about money but at several points makes the point they want money either directly from the government or indirectly by asking for certain fees to be waived
Notice how Lisbon see the value of having the leaders of the industry visit their country instead of sending the clueless pothole fillers on juckets.
Facebook, Google, eBay, Dropbox, Linekdin, Paypal, Twitter, Apple to name a few all have their European headquarters here……… yes the industry leaders are nowhere to be seen…….
Surely there’s room for more?
This is garbage, just PR sping to make sure paddy keeps his good image. The summit was gonna leave dublin eventually maybe it happened a year or two earlybut it was simply up to when it became worth it for Paddy to do so ie when someone offered him enough.
Also it was becoming a bloated mess compared to its original few years and just becoming s scramble for attention with very little business actually being done compared to the earlier years.
I believe the ‘garbage’ was in the replies he received from the Government.
Don’t think those sunglasses are strong enough duffman, the spin still seems to be blinding you
you make sense, Ian. The RDS can host other events apart from sports throughout the year and instigate traffic management plans with the city transport, AA, and other parties. this Cosgrave guy seems to want direct access to the top of government as he let the taoiseach use his event for publicity a few times. it seems like the event grew too big, and he wasn’t able to either organise, or share management with outside bodies, so he is blaming everyone else. if WiFi and transport were so bad, why not look at alternative options to the RDS like the convention centre, the point or other smaller places. if you want a place were internet founders can meet, you don’t have to keep growing for the same of it – now it just looks like a place were internet startups are gouged for a 1sq.m stand to presumably get the attention of a silicon valley capitalist.
Precisely. Does anyone believe that rugby events or huge gigs sort this out by emailing the taoiseach’s assistant three months before the event takes place?
Actually gastrophase….the issues of transport, hotels and traffic were highlighted in 2013 with the Government but nothing was done.
Also…
“He also said that the Web Summit would be happy to give the IDA and Enterprise Ireland stands to the value of €1 million in 2016, expand its school and student summits to cater for 11,000 free places and give free tickets to 300 or more Irish start-ups.”
Yes but why the government? Do One Direction gig promoters liaise with the government? And what would they like the government to do about the hotels exactly, legislate for a price cap – just for them or for all events?
Well…tell me why the Portuguese Government want to help with such issues and think it’s important enough to engage?
It must be worth it for them and their taxpayer is happy to fund everything WebSummit is asking for in the appendixes, which is quite a read when you get there. I’m not sure if Irish taxpayers would be happy to allocate so much funding to a premium commercial event. I admit I have no knowledge of the Portuguese financial systems!
It seems that the Irish government was indeed engaging in a number of areas but it was not enough.
Paddy Cosgrave is a fraud and a bully.
Foolish on the governments behalf
Outdated, incompetent, obsolete, naive and completely unaware of it. An example of Dunning-kruger in action, led from the top.
This is actually good forward planning from the government. Now there will be more hotel rooms available for the families set to lose their homes in 2016 through eviction & extortionate rent rates.
Fine Gael – The party that couldn’t throw a piss up in a brewery.
Complete and utter incompetence by our government. What a surprise….
Another story to highlight how shambolic this government has been. Amature hour, let’s see how Enda tries to spin this.
*Amateur, damn the no edit functionality
I’m in 2 minds about this. Obviously the government did not act in an appropriate manner, but you can’t magic extra public transport out of thin air and having been to Lisbon, I doubt they’ll be able to do it either. From the RDS, you choices are the bus or the DART and to be honest, I can’t imagine anyone who can afford the huge price of the ticket waiting around for the 46a.
Transport is perfectly adequate in that area for rugby games that 20-50K people all leaving at the same time.
It’s not a rugby game.
It’s a business thing.
Which has less transport issues as all 22K are not leaving in a 10 minute window.
James…….rugby supports are heading to the nearest pubs not the buses.
Transport in Lisbon is worse!!!! What is Paddy gabbing about!
They’re heading for the nearest pub as the web summit is just a piss up. That’s why he was pulling in the crowds to Dublin. Yanks liked the idea of a pub crawl and charging it to the business account. It’s a business model with a limited shelf life as people do the Dublin thing and then see through the con.
I agree ,this circus has a limited shelf life and Paddy wants to milk it to the fullest extent .
A Bit Irish Paddy !!!!.
Typical Irish government. Get the heads in for photos and a Facebook opportunity but when people do need help or guidance they are one of the first to say it’s not an issue they are able to help with…
The Web Summit: The ploughing championships for hipsters!
This, and similar fiascos are the reason that Fine Gael have NEVER,EVER been re-elected by us.
Sooner or later their ineptitude shows through – - they can’t help it.
Anyone ever do the maths on this gig? This guy Cosgrave seems like a charlatan. He has made a fortune out of cajoling people into giving FREE presenting slots while he charges a fortune for tickets.
Enda the eejit, made a crass statement in America a couple of years back stating, if anyone here wants to do business in Ireland you can call me personally. What a pile of bo!!0x. He doesn’t give 2 fux.
It’s nothing new. He only cares for large American multinationals setting up shop here (with some lovely tax breaks!), with absolutely no interest in Irish startups it seems.
Ok.
So there’s space in the calendar for a web conference in Dublin next year.
Somebody should do something about that…
quick. Hurry.
Reduce VAT in hotels to 5%
This is just bizarre. Publishing emails is just a really childish move. What were they thinking it would achieve?
It’s exposing this government for what it is. They have all the time in the world to turn up for job announcements and photo shoots but have no ability to actually get things done. They are far more interested in selling spin to the public who seem to lap it up. In this case their bluff has been called and Ireland has lost a very important event, regardless of what you may think about it.
WebSummit fecked off to make even more money after having gotten nearly a million of taxpayer cash already in Ireland.
Ultimately it is a love-in for the lucky monkeys whose startups have turned into goliaths. The other 9,999 monkeys will have their day, someday.
Ireland doesn’t need it.
business has a short memory
People should be fired for this……
Disgrace, especially with other counties throwing arm and leg to get it
The Dáil is a clown car.
What’s the Web summit?
I think it a Halloween night out in howth.
Lisbon?
He thought you were moving to Lisburn.
Our Knowledge Economy is just tax breaks for the corporations, photo ops for the politicians and according to this, not much else.
Also it’s event organisers who propose the traffic plans and DCC approve them not the other way round.
So the next time I’m on business in Dublin and a hotel asks me for a small mortgage as the cost for their room for the night, I can email the government and they’ll sort it for me?? That’s nice to know.
I read the correspondence and, however you feel about Paddy Cosgrave, there is no other use to describe the government communications as disgraceful! No wonder they left, I urge everyone to read them and discover for yourself the frustration the Web Summit staff felt.
This gov is so useless and incompetent, they’ll probably feck up their own election campaign.
The people here who are defending the government’s position are either gov stooges or part of that old begrudging class. Gobsh*tes
It just goes to show that shower could nt organise a p*ss up in a brewery Disgracefull ,and the organisers weren’t even looking for funding,for gods sake. It’s a bit of an irish joke really, those responsible should hang their heads in shame, lessons need to be learnt to avoid a repeat
They were looking for funding. Please don’t believe liar Cosgrave.
“In his correspondence, Paddy frequently says that Web Summit “aren’t looking for a penny”. In Appendix 2 of the docs (Bid Document), the first section is all about Host Contributions (while not a direct payment to Web Summit, these are still a cost to the host city/local authority), but interestingly point 5 is “Financial Contribution” – “a contribution of €100 per foreign attendee from the city”. That sure looks to me like looking for money. He might want to have read that document before assuring everyone that he wasn’t looking for any money.
In the “Asks” document (Appendix 3), Web Summit are then looking for various fees from their Asks (requests/demands) to be waived. Again, that strictly speaking isn’t asking for money, but it’s the same outcome.
Some of the Asks they wanted are very demanding; complimentary use of City Hall & Wood Quay, Garda escorts for VIP guests, closure and removal of parking from Dame Court, Fade Street & South William Street & associated fees to be waived (retailers and rates payers on these streets can’t even get that having been campaigning for years, but Web Summit thinks that they can demand that? The arrogance…)
Web Summit has just gotten too big for Dublin. Rather than simply announce that they have outgrown Dublin and move on elsewhere to chase greater profits (and so lose goodwill), this is great spin to lay the fault at everyone else (not that Nick Reddy was blameless, he should have responded to emails sooner with proper replies; however, why is the Department of the Taoiseach even being involved?), and say that they have no choice but to leave Dublin.
But anyway, point is that it’s all lies about “Not looking for a penny”.”
James the man is in business he is entitled to make a right few quid with such a successful event. Yourself and Ian sound like disgruntled ex employees? What’s with all the poison and the green eyed monster carry on?
I read all the emails today and heard Cosgrave on Matt Cooper this evening. I’m not a fan of him personally as I think he’s a smug little perrick. Regardless of that it’s worrying that the minions in Govt deem themselves too important to meet someone who brings so many influencers to the country.
Agreed, publishing private government correspondence regardless of content or lack of content is the actions of a weasel though.
“Moreover, no Minister has ever attended a meeting yet they all show up for photos at Web Summit.”
Irish politics in a nutshell. The illusion of professionalism is all that matters.
Without taking sides as both could of did more it seem’s to me the Web Summit followed the money as I expect if the Goverment gave them the alleged four things on or before the deadline I bet it still would be in Lisbon.
They are to clever to disclose how much cash Lisbon are giving them as you don’t commit to a 3 year deal as you cannot predict any possible problems.
I think Hotels in Lisbon will be just as expensive also as they admit themselves that more people are attending every year and while Lisbon may have more hotels as soon as it reaches critical level like Dublin prices will sour.
Of course he doesn’t want a “Penny”. We haven’t had them for about 15 or 16 years when we joined the Euro.
Paddy sounds like a 2 year old throwing a tantrum when he doesn’t get what he wants like more money or sweeteners
Lets look at the pattern from the I.T article a couple of weeks ago. Paddy Cosgrave is extending his web summit activities. He has started COLLISION in New Orleans. SURGE in India and RISE in Hong Kong. Bar Hong Kong does anyone see the pattern? Low cost hi tech locations in Asia and the Americas. The plan appears to be obvious and so is the move to Lisbon. This guy is expanding his practice and is keeping his eye on the money .. That said the “i’ll get back to you” email transaction in the Taoiseachs office is not beyond reproach. .
The Dublin city manager was probably out looking for streets to close down for bicycle lanes. Or no sign of an off white coloured envelope.
Surprised by all the comments against the event and organiser. The same people seem to have no issue with us rolling out the red carpet for snakes like Donald Trump or the shady practices of the large pharma/IT companies that our government and people seem to think are so important to us. Seems to be a classic case of disliking something because it’s Irish. A horrible national trait.
love the complaints about hotel prices. I was in Dublin The weekend after the Web summit. hotel was 350 euro for Fri sat,sun was 35. why ire sa rugby match . kylie was playing at the 3. and a lot of people had stayed after Web summit. its not gouging it’s supply and demand still less than the rack rate. you can’t get a room in Cardiff this weekend for example
this government is an all round complete failure.
Are you strictly committed to Europe after Lisbon’s three years? If not, look at San Antonio, Texas and the growing geekdom and rackspace sites developing there. If interested would be happy to help with contacts. Not everything has to be located at the Texas state capital in Austin. In addition a rapid growth in cybersecurity is taking place in San Antonio.
watched UTV a little while ago and DCC boss says knew nothing about this going on…funny that since I heard about these problems last year!!
Rip off Ireland is back with a vengeance. it won’t be long before tourism starts to drop again.
When you have 22,000+ people trying to stay in a city with not much more in the line of room’s what can you expect.
People go on holidays in June/July is much more than November in Europe.
Quiet simply supply and demand.
Book flights last minute pay a big price, book early don’t.
havent we been on this road before with the garth brooks saga?? talk about de ja vu!
Gombeen Ireland, nothing new. I wonder if Paddy was a donator to the political parties would it have helped
It’s really strange that the emails show that the government weren’t bothering to address the 4 issues, or respond properly, and yet the vast majority of comments here are defending the government.
Frustrating how we vote. Need more business acumen in government!
From:
Paddy Cosgrave
Date: 3 September 2015 at 14:48
Subject: Re: Web Summit Urgent
To: “Nick.Reddy@taoiseach.gov.ie”
Any sense of timing? This is the 3rd holding email? It’s been a full two weeks and still nothing. What does coming back actually mean? We need even a basic plan. We’re not looking for a penny.
I’m sorry to appear pushy, but I’ve tried every other option over 3 years. Quietly working every
avenue behind the scenes, never once publicly highlighting the situation, bar a single outburst
on stage about wifi, which in a sense is unrelated to Government.
I realise everyone across Government is very busy but we seem to be able to maintain daily
calls with other governments at a ministerial level across Europe, both from large and small
nations.
We’ve never succeeded in getting a single meeting with Dublin’s City Manager, nor been invited
to one, yet we’re invited constantly to sit down with Prime Ministers across Europe. Over five
years, we’ve been invited to more meetings in Number 10 Downing Street than to meetings in
Leinster House.
I’m about to board another flight to Lisbon to meet once again with a number of ministers, and the PM’s right hand. I will then spend Friday and Saturday in the Netherlands finalising their plan for 2016, having previously met with the Prime Minster, Minster for Finance, Minster for Economic affairs, mayor of Amsterdam and all other relevant stakeholders.
I cannot stress enough that we don’t want a penny to stay, just a plan. Far smaller cities than Dublin host far larger conferences than Web Summit. But it requires a coordinated plan for Dublin City that only Government can put in place. We know it’s possible. Even an indicative plan and we would stay. But after 3 years of asking and asking we still don’t have even one single page outlining even a basic committed plan for the city. What little is being done for this year is unfortunately disorganised, uncoordinated and in many instances not
guided by evidence. Moreover, no Minister has ever attended a meeting yet they all show up for photos at Web
Summit. Meetings for 2015 have been left to committed civil servants, who realistically without real political will are powerless to initiate significant change.
Last year, for example, the person appointed to coordinate the city, with whom I met numerous times, publicly denied he was coordinating anything a few days before Web Summit. It’s was a pretty unbelievable situation, but it clearly underlined that there was no real coordination, arguably because there was no real political buy in.
At present for whatever reason there is clearly no appetite for real political engagement, no appetite to use Web Summit as a platform for Irish companies, as every other nation we work with sees it. As an example of the lack of real political engagement and coordination, last year due to a complete lack of any plan for public transport and traffic calming measures, congestion was so significant that Gardai had to be pulled in last minute from across Dublin to try and resolve the situation. Which they did a great job doing and should be commended for. We were left with the bill, which to be honest I was happy to pay as it was not their fault in the slightest and they did a great job ameliorating the situation in some way. But they could have been doing more
important work in Dublin if there had just been even a basic traffic management plan similar football matches.
Are you aware of Prince Charles’ involvement, or No. 10 Downing Street, or the Chairman of the Conservative Party? I’ve detailed it privately over and over again, but it seems not to resonate.If it isn’t clear already , I’m now piling on the pressure because I can’t understand why even a single page plan for 2016 isn’t possible.
Without a plan for 2016, we will be forced to leave. Web Summit is larger than the RDS. It takes over the entire city. While we can control, to a point, what happens inside the RDS -bar the wifi it seems yet again this year
What happens outside is down to the city and national Government. Finally, you’re on a trade mission to France. So here’s another way of thinking about Web Summit. Almost every other Government in Europe sends trade missions to Dublin for Web Summit. Why? Because significant business is being done. Somehow, and don’t ask me how, the British government are more active at Web Summit than the Irish.
Last year a British cabin et minster, who was also chairman of the Conservative party, found two days in his busy schedule to quietly hold innumerable bilateral meetings in Dublin. In that time not a single Irish minister to our knowledge held a single bilateral meeting with a high level attendee. If that sounds a little unbelievable, it’s because it is a little unbelievable. We don’t even invite a British Minster to Web Summit. He just showed up. His team had figured out who they wanted to meet.
To make matters even more unbelievable, we organised the largest showcase of Irish food in the history of the state last year in partnership with Good Food Ireland and Darina Allen. We attracted a long list of leading companies and investors in this space from around the world. Did the Department of Agriculture engage a single person that flew to Dublin? No. Instead of the Irish Minster for Agriculture holding meetings it was left to Prince Charles to extend invitations to key delegates to fly from Dublin to Bristol to meet with him on his
country estate, Highgrove, to discuss the future of British food and agriculture over an afternoon. Some of that group also visited No. 10. The group then flew back to Cork to be hosted by Darina Allen in Ballymaloe.
In fact throughout the week of Web Summit, while no Irish minister held a single bilateral in Leinster House, the doors of No. 10 Downing Street were wide open to business. Delegations of key investors and business people flew from Dublin to London and back again.
In Dublin, while press secretaries constantly reached out to our team requesting photo and speaking opportunities for Ministers, the British government had a cabinet minister quietly getting on with business in Dublin. No photos required. He wasn’t looking for votes, he was drumming up business for British companies and the British economy at large. It all sounds a bit surreal. But it all happened, and will happen again this year and to a greater extent next year without a plan. I’ve never once knocked the Government, never once spoken out, never once committed a single word to paper. Not once. But you’re operating in a parallel universe where a jobs announcement or a photo opportunity at Web Summit is the biggest opportunity you see.
Meanwhile other governments are cleaning up under your nose. How can you be outplayed by the British government in your own back yard? Or by the Dutch, the French, the Danes. It’s surreal. We need a plan for Dublin City. We don’t want a penny. We’ll give IDA and EI their stands for free up to €1,000,000, expand our school and student summits to give free access to 20,000 young people to Web Summit each evening, and give 300/400/500 free tickets to startups across Ireland. Did we do something wrong bringing all these people to Ireland? Is there a problem bringing more than 1,000 media from the worlds leading outlets to Dublin? Is there a problem organising the largest gathering of investors anywhere in the world in Dublin? Or the largest gathering of startups? Is there a problem bringing c – level execs from leading Fortune 500 companies to
Dublin?
Why go on a trade mission to France at huge expense, when you’re not prepared to go on a trade mission down the street at no expense? Clearly, I’m despondent that we are literally being forced out of Ireland just for the lack of some very basic things like a plan for traffic management and public transport similar to sporting
events.
Rattle out of the pram – OR words of annoyance and disbelief
Summary:
I don’t want a penny
But I want a long list of expensive VIP things and services for free
I want someone to do my traffic plans for me that every other event sorts out themselves
And I want the government to sort out my wifi, even though it “in a sense is unrelated to Government”
And I want businesses to freeze their prices while I keep raising my prices
Also, Prince Charles
AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT
have your say