Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would never take the Deputy's comments personally and he is making fair and important points. I agree with the Deputy the loss of the event to Dublin is a significant business loss and I always have acknowledged that. Alongside this, however, I will make two points to the Deputy, the first being that one might consider the degree of support the Government and State agencies have provided to this event in recent years. When the event first began in 2010, it had just over 400 attendees whereas last year, more than 22,000 people attended the event. When Government agencies and various Departments were actively involved in supporting this growth, this support was never acknowledged; nor should it be because the Government was supporting an Irish company here that was doing excellent work and employing people. However, I am confident that strong plans were available in respect of all the matters raised by the organisers of the Web Summit regarding transport and the availability of hotel rooms.

I simply respect the fact that the organisers made a commercial decision about the growth of the event and the ability of Dublin to support it in the future. We will be aiming to win that business back.

See this speech in context