Gridlock

AND PATRICK COSGRAVE RESIGNED

Sorry about the quality of the photographs but my iPgone XR is giving a lot of problems after the most software update.

Today I got a bus from Belfield but had to abandon the bus at Leeson Street because of gridlock. When I got the the top of Dawson Street nothing was moving as there was a huge line of buses and trams.

Protesters gathered at the Garden of Remembrance before marching with banners and flags to Merrion Square and this was the second weekend in a row that a large-scale demonstration has taken place in Dublin.

Related story: Paddy Cosgrove, the Chief executive of Web Summit, has announced he will be resigning with immediate effect from his company. This follows several companies, such as Google, Meta, Intel and Amazon pulling out of the conference which will be held in Lisbon in November, following comments from Mr Cosgrave on Israel.

Patrick Cosgrave is an Irish entrepreneur. He was a co-founder of Web Summit, an annual technology conference. In 2015 he was listed 18th in the Wired UK list of the most influential people in Europe in the field of technology.

Cosgrave has come under criticism and faced legal action for comments he has made on multiple occasions, particularly about politicians.

Cosgrave criticised the Irish tax system in 2019. When asked at a press conference if his stance could be viewed as hypocrisy, Cosgrave agreed as Amaranthine, an investment fund set up by Cosgrave with other Web Summit founders, is based in California but registered in Delaware – an effective tax shelter.

On 30 March 2020, Cosgrave posted a tribute on Twitter to the “4 nurses in Ireland who fought so hard for so many patients, but who themselves fell ill, and have now passed. RIP.” The following day, the Health Service Executive tweeted that “Contrary to tweets sent yesterday – thankfully none of our nurses have died in Ireland from #COVID19.” Phil Ni Sheaghdha, general secretary of the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (INMO), accused Cosgrave of “scaremongering”. On 8 June, Cosgrave “unreservedly” apologised on Twitter to the HSE and the INMO. However, on May 14, 2023, in an RTE radio interview, Cosgrave asserted that his original tweet was correct in stating that four nurses had died.

Also in 2020, Cosgrave was criticised for using what some inferred as sectarian and pejorative language in calling Neale Richmond a “Castle Catholic”.

In 2023, following the attack by Hamas in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Cosgrave publicly stated on a Social Media platform that “War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are”, referring to Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Gaza. He also denounced the attacks by Hamas and stated that he was “devastated to see the level of innocent civilian casualties in Israel and Gaza”. Although he remained firm with his previous condemnation, he later on apologised, and subsequently resigned as CEO after companies like Amazon, Google and Meta had withdrawn from the 2023 event.