1. Patrick Cosgrave was born on 19 March 1983 and is an Irish entrepreneur.
25 Facts About Paddy Cosgrave
2.
Paddy Cosgrave is a co-founder of Web Summit, an annual technology conference.
3.
Paddy Cosgrave was CEO of Web Summit until October 2023 when he resigned and was replaced by Katherine Maher.
4.
Maher left after three months and, in April 2024, staff were told Paddy Cosgrave had decided to return as CEO.
5.
Paddy Cosgrave was educated at Glenstal Abbey School and Trinity College Dublin, where he studied business, Economics and Social Studies.
6.
Paddy Cosgrave graduated with a II-1 BA from Trinity College, Dublin's BESS program in 2006.
7.
Paddy Cosgrave was the executive director of Rock the Vote Ireland, a campaign launched in April 2007 to encourage young people to vote in the May 2007 Irish general election.
8.
Paddy Cosgrave was a co-founder of MiCandidate, a website that "provided detailed information on every candidate running in the 2007 general election".
9.
Paddy Cosgrave was sold for "an undisclosed sum" in October 2009.
10.
Paddy Cosgrave was awarded the 2015 Irish Exporters Association annual gold medal.
11.
Paddy Cosgrave was listed 18th in the 2015 Wired UK list of the "100 most influential individuals in the wider Wired world".
12.
Paddy Cosgrave, through the Web Summit, was an investor in The Ditch news website.
13.
In March 2012, Paddy Cosgrave was appointed to the board of the Higher Education Authority.
14.
In 2015, Paddy Cosgrave apologised for falsely taking credit for building the Tito ticketing application.
15.
The Web Summit has been the subject of several controversies under Paddy Cosgrave's stewardship, including its move from Dublin to Lisbon, the organisation of a dinner at Portugal's National Pantheon, and the invitation of Marine Le Pen as a speaker, which was withdrawn.
16.
Paddy Cosgrave has come under criticism and faced legal action for comments he has made on multiple occasions, particularly about politicians.
17.
On 14 May 2023, in an RTE Radio interview, Paddy Cosgrave said that his original tweet was correct.
18.
Also in 2020, Paddy Cosgrave was criticised for using what some inferred as sectarian and pejorative language in calling Neale Richmond a "Castle Catholic".
19.
In 2023, during the Gaza war, Paddy Cosgrave publicly stated on X that "War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are", referring to war crimes committed by Israel in the war against Gaza.
20.
Paddy Cosgrave denounced the attacks by Hamas and stated that he was "devastated to see the level of innocent civilian casualties in Israel and Gaza".
21.
In 2020, Maitiu O Tuathail took legal proceedings against Paddy Cosgrave regarding comments Paddy Cosgrave made on his Twitter profile.
22.
Paddy Cosgrave has been accused of oppressing a minority shareholder, attempting to engage in blackmail against a co-director, and hacking a rival Irish events company, resulting in court cases involving Cosgrave and co-founders Daire Hickey and David Kelly.
23.
In February 2022, Paddy Cosgrave was sued by John McGuirk for defamation for Tweets posted in December 2021.
24.
In November 2022, Paddy Cosgrave was sued for defamation by businessman Robert Quirke over a tweet sent in March 2021.
25.
Paddy Cosgrave married model-turned-designer Faye Dinsmore in 2016 and has two sons.