The back and forth battle between Web Summit and the Government would appear to have dragged RTÉ into the equation, as seasoned reporter Sharon Ní Bheoláin absolutely grilled Daire Hickey on RTÉ News this evening.
Sharon began the interview by trying to land an early punch, stating “I should say we had expected to speak to Paddy Cosgrave, who had pulled out before we came”. Now we’re not going to sink to the joke making level that we really want to here, but as much as Paddy is the figurehead of Web Summit, Sharon showed little recognition to Daire, who in fairness did co-found the event all those years ago.
If you’re hoping things get better they don’t, as this was car crash TV at its finest. Before watching the clip, natural instincts kicked in, as a voice inside my head started shouting – “get the popcorn, that Daire lad is going to clean the head off her”, but how wrong the voice in my head was!
Daire remained calm throughout, but Sharon was like a dog with a bone, constantly interrupting and cutting across the tech conference co-founder. Whether or not she had an editor in her ear or not remains unclear, but either way, we’d love to know a little more about what set the mood at hypertense.
Totes awky momo.
