We’re all familiar with the reasons why the Web Summit is leaving Dublin but there were two reminders sitting in my inbox this morning.
The first was a rebuttal to an article that appeared in the Sunday Business Post stating that An Taoiseach Enda Kenny had not been extended an invitation to the Summit. We now know this now to be the case. The Taoiseach was indeed sent an invite to the Summit. Only it was at 9pm last Friday night in a generic e-mail to ‘Deputy Kenny’ with an RSVP deadline of 1pm on Sunday afternoon. To cap it all, the message could have been held up further after it was recognised as spam and quarantined in the Oireachtas’ e-mail system.
So yes, an invitation was made to the Taoiseach outside working hours the weekend before the Summit. Oversight, afterthought, olive branch, slight? Take your pick.
The other e-mail was an attendee primer with helpful information like public transport options and the need for an umbrella. Nestled in between was a note about Wi-Fi connectivity, last year’s flashpoint. The short paragraph includes a direct quote from the RDS saying it now ranks “in the top tier of connectivity for venues across Europe”. Interesting use of quotation marks. As a second line of defence, SignalShare has been appointed to monitor the network. The primer goes on to recommend visits pick up their own 3G or 4G SIM cards… just in case.
Hopefully both the above will be treated as non-stories by Summit’s attendees, who have already started pouring in through Dublin airport. From a local perspective, it’s hard not to see the above as thinly veiled axe-grinding. Surely the Summit should be worrying about putting on a good show instead of reminding everyone just why Lisbon will be ‘the new Dublin’ from 2016 to 2019?
As I get my personal calendar in order for the next few days I’m expecting an e-mail on how to navigate the streets of Dublin at rush hour, but I can’t see one arriving at this stage. Then again, the night is young.
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