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Web Summit sought 'free transport' from government before plan to relocate

The founder of the Web Summit had been looking for free public transport to the event before deci...
Newstalk
Newstalk

16.00 27 Sep 2015


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Web Summit sought 'fre...

Web Summit sought 'free transport' from government before plan to relocate

Newstalk
Newstalk

16.00 27 Sep 2015


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The founder of the Web Summit had been looking for free public transport to the event before deciding to move it to Lisbon.

A report in today's Sunday Business Post highlights what it calls the summit's 'fraught relationship with Irish officials.'

Last week the annual tech conference for start-ups announced the event would be moving to Lisbon following its last Dublin iteration in November.

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According to the paper, founder Paddy Cosgrave wanted a traffic plan that would have shut down a 'chunk of the city' in addition to buses being supplied to transport delegates from the city centre to the event at the RDS in Ballsbridge.

Capacity was also an issue, as there are concerns that the RDS, which has hosted the Summit since it began five years ago, will struggle to cope with the 30,000 strong crowd expected to attend this year's event - last year issues with wi-fi proved highly embarrassing.

Cosgrave also raised complaints over hotels hiking rates for the duration of the conference. The paper's sources suggest government officials were hesitant to get involved in private business, and became increasingly weary of the escalating demands made by organisers.

In 2014 the Web Summit received €235,000 from four state agencies - Enterprise Ireland, Tourism Ireland, the Irish Development Authority and Science Foundation Ireland.

 


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