56 thoughts on “How Happy?

    1. Marion

      The look of someone who’s sick and tired of being expected to pander to the interests of the dinosaur Irish establiahment media (Oirish Toimes, RTE, etc.) Sick of their tired recipe, pathetic national narrative and suffocating business model. Looks like he has someone far more important and interesting to talk to. He might even be enjoying himself without the help of Enda (who-was-never-asked) and the Montrose “stars”? How dare he.

      1. Jake38

        You got it in one, All that’s missing is Eileen Dunne and the news from North Korea. Or Miriam O Callaghan asking him how he feels….

        1. Speakeasy

          This is a case of young men with over inflated egos wanting control. They are venting their frustration here (I say here because it’s obviously the web summit people posting comments above) because the one thing they can’t control is the public service media.

  1. tony

    He did NOT like being interrupted by Sharon. Glowered every time it happened. Started every sentence with ‘so’. Nearly tore the mic off his shirt at the end. MAJOR arsepoplexy

    1. dan

      If Sharon just allowed him answer a question, he may not have been pi$$ed off at the end. You’d swear she was Kay Burley

      1. B Bop

        Sharon ní Robot is always overexcited & silly in live interviews.
        The ridiculous nature of her incessant interrupting whilst the calm, articulate interviewee is rationally trying to put his points across is a laughable form of journalism, typical of AaaRsheeEee.
        It is an embarrassment to lose this summit.
        Traffic management is a joke in this city…road to airport from Southside in middle of major concert venue beside a bridge FFS.
        Blackrock bypass a year under redevelopment (traffic carnage) & upon finishing they manage to make it all worse on every stupidity level.

        1. Mister Mister

          He kept resorting to trying to tell her how much his great leader cares for all his paying customers.

          He should have been interrupted with a baseball bat to the gut each time.

  2. Art Vandelay

    In fairness that interview was ridiculous. What the hell was Sharon on? Is she working for the government or what? I’ve seen actual crappy politicians get a WAY easier ride

    1. Nially

      In fairness, he’d still totally get it.

      (Related: idiotic though the comments about his appearance are, I guess it’s a bit of a win for gender equality that about 1/5th of the comments on this article are about his appearance and not anything to do with what he or Sharon said or did. We’re learning as a society to be more superficial about everyone! Yay equality!)

  3. Kieran NYC

    The same Daire Hickey who started his journalism career writing a Leaving Cert Diary for The Examiner?

    Oh how the ego has landed!

    1. Marion

      Today’s 20 (and 30) -something journo graduates would do anything to get a schoolboy column in a national banner.

      Yeah, how dare he. Fellas his age should still be getting the bus and paying half their wages for a bedsit in Stoneybatter.

  4. roisin

    Yer man Paddy refused to be on air after agreeing to do an interview during the Six One news. Daire appeared to be the sacrificial goat, and yes, he was annoyed as hell that he didn’t get to write the script for the interview. I say power to Sharon.

    1. tomkildare

      I know enda and fg were dead right to tell the lads to fubb off, tinking dem n der computer summitt with geeks rolling around the place. should have got rid of dem ages ago, hope enda never lets them back, that will show em

  5. Soft like

    The internet is dead it’s all bout the marketnet now. Here is something you liked/bought a month ago and here are a few ads to buy some more of that or similar crapola. But hey we are not being used as a consumer machine. Just keep that crap going though or else we won’t keep reinventing the same websites that do exactly the same crap as this and the next popular website will be called ‘****’.

    1. sǝɯǝɯʇɐpɐq

      @ Soft like ;
      I like this idea of ‘next popular website‘ that you propose.
      New websites are surely the answer if we want to keep the Internet we all know and love alive.
      -What is there now, around 30 or 40 websites? I personally think we could expand to nearer 100 if we put our minds to it.
      C’mon Computer Boffins, do whatever it is that we pay you for, now.

    1. onetwothreefour

      On the player. Worth a watch. Sharon could have given him more breathing space, but he didn’t come across well – blathering through the same points as his buddy this morning and couldn’t deal with the pummelling from herself. The aul crisis management wha?

      1. Inopro

        sorry but Sharon’s interview was stinking of the same support much of the media have for the gov supposedly getting everything on the mend and the idea seemed how dare they move somewhere thats not Dublin why on earth when ROI is so perfect. Im pretty sure they made an informed business decision to go where the money was, if events like the web summit were quite so lucrative wouldnt every step be made to keep it here, even if just for spin. Sure this gov loves spin

        1. Eliot Rosewater

          They made an informed business decision, but not after a whole lot of moaning and whining which essentially boiled down to: the government is doing nothing for this summit, which was patently untrue. I’m not sure how much more the government could’ve done bar organise private buses to the event or maybe subsidise the whole thing. But then, the organisers were absolutely, not ever looking for something in return for bringing all this business to Ireland, right?

          Anyway, when two figures that I have no respect for collide, I find I enjoy the impact.

  6. Christopher

    Sharon did well- she hammered him on what exactly was going to keep the websummit in Ireland- he kept saying “traffic management and talking to the hotels” she rightly pointed out that the government can intervene in the hotel market and asked him about their wish list to have garda escorts for their speakers (yeah garda escorts for Eva Longoria and the winner of the tour de France). Quite refreshing to see someone who speaks in blather that is pandered on the stages of these summits and TED talks being faced with real world questions- he came across as idiot and the organisation looked shambolic.

    1. Operatick

      Totally disagree. As with many things, the reasons they are leaving are no doubt numerous. You don’t make such a decision lightly. She wants the complex reasoning for leaving in a hassled one-liner, when you could probably write a (short) book about why. Not everything can be justified – or not – in one or two words. When you say ‘she hammered him’, what that amounted to was her cutting him off as he’s trying to explain and deliberately trying to hassle him into getting angry. I don’t believe he comes across as an ‘idiot’ at all. And how does the organisation ‘look shambolic’? Seems a pretty well run, successful affair, all things considered.

      1. Frida

        ‘Seems a pretty well run, successful affair, all things considered.’

        Yeah, to a teenager whose experience of event planning has been organising a sleepover for three.

  7. Colly

    Terrible interview, badly planned and scripted, high risk bully tactics by Sharron that didn’t pay off.

    Overall pretty embarrassing and cringeworthy and a great metaphor for why websummit is moving to Lisbon.

  8. Owen C

    This interview was payback for the Paddy Cosgrave one earlier in the day on Morning Ireland. Clearly RTE did not expect the Cosgrave comments, and figured they needed some balance on the other side of it next time out. After Cosgrave cancelled last minute (probably knowing what was coming), Sharon probably was a bit annoyed and went a bit OTT, but it wasn’t without a reason. Also, the “1.4 million on the table from Lisbon” was a genuinely good line from her.

  9. Clampers Outside!

    The whole ‘VIP escort’ thing boils me cahonies. Even if WebSummit covered the costs of Garda, we still can’t afford taking Garda off real work just to make some VIP feel important. …well it’s not to protect them from assassination or any other nefarious reason, it’s just to make some sap feel like a VIP… a pandering to egos.

    It’s a pity it’s gone, I’d put blame at the govt’s feet though for not even having proper engagement with them.

  10. some old queen

    @ Sharon. Yes there are up themselves people to deal with but that is not what you are (over) paid to be.

    Seriously love, get your act together.

    1. Frida

      Honestly, I thought she did okay and I’m not generally a fan. Interviewees can’t be allowed to ramble on all day; it’s her job to steer the conversation.

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