Published on 

Taoiseach at Dublin Web Summit

Taoiseach Enda Kenny rings the NASDAQ starting bell at the Web Summit this week

Taoiseach Enda Kenny rings the NASDAQ starting bell at the Web Summit this week, accompanied by Bruce Aust of NASDAQ and Paddy Cosgrave from the Web Summit

Taoiseach Enda Kenny attended this year's Dublin Web Summit at the RDS this week. The event took place over two days, with major headline speakers such as businessman and inventor Elon Musk and entrepreneur Kevin Rose. The Taoiseach rang the bell to mark the start of trading on the NASDAQ on Wednesday, the first time the bell has ever been rung in Ireland. The following day, the Taoiseach took part in a panel discussion on technology and innovation with Elon Musk and entrepreneur Shervin Pishevar, which was moderated by Storyful founder Mark Little.

The event was also attended by many young entrepreneurs and start ups from Ireland and around the world. MerrionStreet.ie spoke with two young Irish people about the importance of the Summit and the technology scene in Ireland.

Liam Ryan is CEO of GetHealth, an online service and app that allows users to track their well being through exercise, nutrition and mental health. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Liam began work on GetHealth two years ago along with his co founders Chris Rooney and Michael Flanagan.

Niamh Hughes works as Developer Advocate at 

S

hutterstock in New York. She was involved in setting up Sandbox Network's Dublin office. Sandbox, a global community of young achievers and innovators under 30, set up their  international hub in Dublin in 2012.

Read about the launch here.

Read the Taoiseach's speech from the Web Summit here. 

We also spoke to Stephen McIntyre, Managing Director of Twitter Ireland and Chris Dial, Senior Director of Business Development at Microsoft about the opportunities for start ups in Ireland: