The Dublin Web Summit is to move to the Portuguese city of Lisbon from 2016. It will be held at the MEO Arena and FIL Feira Internacional de Lisboa.

The summit is to leave the Irish capital after five years.

Some 30,000 attendees are expected to attend this year’s summit in Dublin in November.

"We estimate that more than 50,000 attendees will come to our events over a 12-month period - more than have come to Web Summit in its history prior to 2015", CEO Paddy Cosgrave says.

On the decision to move the summit, he says: "We are proud of the fact that we have become an important pillar of the global startup ecosystem. 90% of our attendees come from abroad".

"That said, we are an Irish company. Our roots are Irish. Our first attendees were all Irish. It was those first attendees who became our greatest champions, spreading the word of Web Summit far and wide. We couldn’t have gotten here without them".

"So it has not been an easy decision to move Web Summit from its Irish home. We are going because we want to take the next step on our journey to international growth".

"So we leave with some sadness. Our HQ is here in Dublin and will remain here. We employ 130 people here and plan to continue growing fast", he adds.

Organisers are citing transport and hotel infrastructure - as well as a state-of-the-art venue - as reasons for the move.

Mr Cosgrave said they had spoken to a number different cities about hosting the event in the future.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny says he is 'disappointed' at the decision - but says the Government did not fail to meet the demands of the Web Summit.

Meanwhile, the director of public affairs with Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Aebhric McGibney, told Newstalk Lunchtime that Ireland has under-invested in infrastructure for years.

He says Dublin needs to be competitive.