Asked if he took the opportunity to speak to some of the many politicians and policymakers attending this year’s Lisbon conference about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Cosgrave told reporters he spoke to Vice-Chancellor of Germany, Robert Habeck, but skirted the suggestion that he may have spoken about the Middle East.

Answering just a handful of questions, Cosgrave told the press conference: “We talked about, in particular, tariffs on cars and EVs. Ireland voted to tariff cars which is unusual because it doesn’t have car manufacturing industry that it might be trying to protect. It has a Green government that is trying to, allegedly, rapidly move Ireland towards a green transition. 

“In Germany, they opposed tariffs on Chinese cars but they also have an auto industry that they are trying to protect. I think they are also mindful of the potentially impending climate catastrophe. It was very interesting discussion and we were very privileged to have Robert Habeck here with the largest-ever German trade delegation.” 

With a reputation for straying from the matter at hand, Cosgrave has stuck to the script throughout this year’s Web Summit. In his opening remarks on Monday, the CEO kept matters light, telling a crowded arena that it was “great to be back,” while welcoming his wife Faye Dinsmore and two young boys who had travelled with him to this year’s event.

Avoiding the elephant in the room, the Web Summit co-founder instead reiterated this year’s Summit’s many achievements, including a sold-out event with 71,500 attendees and a record number of exhibiting startups founded by women.

Cosgrave’s approach has largely continued throughout the week, spending the majority of Wednesday’s press conference talking about new innovations developed by Web Summit, expansion plans targeting locations across Africa and Asia and his time spent with Portuguese tennis player Fred Gil, who was present at the press conference.

Speaking about the importance of connectivity at Web Summit, Cosgrave said that it can be difficult for attendees starting their businesses: “These people don’t have contacts, they don’t have an address book, they don’t have a big brand behind them like The Irish Times. People can’t just make a phone call where somebody answers. Helping people connect is a very special thing.” 

This year’s Web Summit has seen several high-profile tech executives debate the future of AI, social media and the impact of a second Trump presidency, with Microsoft Vice President Brad Smith, founder of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners Lee and whistleblower turned security consultant Chelsea Manning all taking to this year’s Web Summit stage.