A five-star hotel in Co Wicklow has cancelled bookings for a “secretive” conference which was to be hosted in August by a group cofounded by US tech billionaire Peter Thiel.
The planned event at the Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa, scheduled to be attended by a senior Nato commander and Trump administration officials, will not now go ahead at the venue.
Thiel was a cofounder of payments group PayPal and Palantir, a defence contractor known for mass surveillance and criticised heavily for its “strategic partnership” with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in its assault on Gaza.
A leaked schedule for the “retreat” hosted by Dialog, an invitation-only group cofounded 20 years ago by Thiel and entrepreneur Auren Hoffman, featured discussions on topics including preparations for a third world war, battlefield technologies, nuclear energy and cult-building.
“Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa confirms that a publicised event scheduled to take place in August will now not be taking place at the hotel,” a spokesman for the hotel said in reply to questions. “We have no further comment.”
The hotel is owned and operated by the MHL Hotel Collection, a long-standing tenant of the Powerscourt Estate, which said it was “relieved and pleased” by news of the cancellation.
“Following a period of great concern for Powerscourt Estate and on foot of discussions with The Powerscourt Hotel, we are relieved and pleased to announce the Dialog event planned for August at the Powerscourt Hotel has been cancelled,” it said.
“Powerscourt Estate wish to thank all of those who supported us through this difficult and challenging time. Including our staff, neighbours, friends, supporters and legal team.”
The proposed event had drawn criticism from Opposition parties, who said it should not go ahead.
Pro-Palestine groups had mounted a campaign calling for the conference to be cancelled due to Palantir’s links to the IDF.
The Drop Dialogue campaign had planned a number of protests outside the estate in the coming weeks, including one on Saturday, which will not now go ahead.
In a statement issued on Friday, a spokeswoman said the cancellation “is a victory for all people of conscience who mobilised against it, and shows that direct action works”.
Drop Dialogue called on MHL Hotels to “confirm the event will not go ahead at any of their other hotels in Ireland, or our campaign will not stop”.
The statement added: “We issue a warning to any other hotel or venue on the island of Ireland who may consider hosting these individuals.”
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign chairwoman Zoe Lawlor welcomed the cancellation.
“It’s not the kind of conference that we should be hosting in Ireland,” she said. “It doesn’t reflect the fact that the majority of people here stand in solidarity with Palestinian people and want sanctions on Israel and are horrified by the genocide that’s almost three years in now.”
Lawlor said venues “need to show a lot more discretion about who they’re going to host for conferences”.
“Anywhere else would be mad to host it now, given that Powerscourt has already cancelled because of the pushback against it,” she added.
If the conference is moved to another venue in Ireland, activists will protest there instead, campaigners said on Friday.
Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit–Solidarity TD, said the cancellation was “a victory for people power”.
He said activists were concerned that organisers may try to hold the conference at another venue.
“We will have to keep a very close eye in case they try and relocate,” he said. “But obviously we’d urge any and all venues not to even consider accommodating Peter Thiel and Palantir and this sort of event.”