The Web Summit sells itself as the best place to network

A regular complaint is that the Web Summit is just interested in money, which of course it is – it’s a business, not a public service

Paddy Cosgrave at the web summit

When founder Paddy Cosgrave announced in September that the Web Summit would be moving to Lisbon, I joked (except I wasn’t joking) that it was like watching a messy celebrity breakup.

Co-founder Daire Hickey did an awkward interview with RTE’s Six One News, in which he repeatedly mentioned ‘traffic management plans’ as a reason the Web Summit felt let down by the Irish government and took the Portuguese up on their offer. Attendees ...