It was famously described as just "a bunch of yakkity-yaks talking shite". It cost the taxpayer more than €300,000, hasn't created a single job and has yet to make good on a grandiose promise that it would produce five separate business plans. In fact, it hasn't produced one.

And yet, the inaugural Global Irish Economic Forum, the brainchild of economist David McWilliams, continues to have its passionate defenders right around the world. Almost five months since the great and the good of the diaspora descended on Dublin's Farmleigh House, what has become of the event dubbed the 'Irish Davos'? Was Michael O'Leary correct in saying it was just a talking shop for "yakkity-yaks" flying home to attend the All Ireland final? Or have McWilliams' predictions of five coherent plans started to come true?

The Sunday Tribune contacted a number of the participants from as far away as Shanghai and Texas, and as close as Cork and Dublin, to ask them if the Farmleigh event was worthwhile or a waste of time.

Internationally-respected businessman Martin Naughton, who is the chairman and owner of the Glen Dimplex Group, believes that the conference was "worthwhile" and "a great compliment to this country that so many busy people travelled to Dublin at their own expense to participate".

He said that "useful networks have been created which will, no doubt, have positive results". But he added, "On a negative note, I found it a little insulting to have some of our tax exiles lecturing the Irish government on not spending enough of our tax money on third world projects."

Naughton said that President Mary McAleese gave an "inspiring message to the delegates" and suggested that the forum should be repeated in 12 to 18 months but should be "smaller and more focused".

"The Merrion Hotel is busy again, after an 18-month pause, hosting overseas business meetings. This has to be a good sign."

Goodwill towards the Irish

Dan Byrne, the founder and chairman of Lincor Solutions Ltd, agreed with Naughton. "It was most definitely worthwhile and long overdue to leverage the goodwill of the Irish diaspora that exists worldwide.

"I have worked abroad in France and California with Apple and I know there is huge goodwill towards the Irish. I don't think we have ever leveraged it as the Israelis do, so this was long overdue."

Byrne also believes that criticism of the event was "healthy as it forced those driving it to get their finger out and deliver". The one criticism he has is that the focus was too wide and a "more focused and intensified effort to identify three or four major initiatives rather than a multiplicity of initiatives would have been better."

He said he was aware of a number of initiatives that had been born out of Farmleigh that were still in their "gestation period" so "it will inevitably be good for the country."

The Sunday Tribune went back to Farmleigh's most vocal critic, O'Leary, to see if his views had changed with hindsight. But the Ryanair CEO said he does not believe the event was of any tangible benefit to the economy and said, "It is sad but utterly predictable that the Farmleigh event produced nothing other than a couple of photos.

"It didn't work because the government has no will to take tough decisions. They prefer photo ops with the great and the good, instead of sitting down with real business people, agreeing a small list of decisions and then implementing them. The course of Bertie which was 'all dither and no action' prevails."

While O'Leary has been unwavering in his criticism, McWilliams, who got the idea while working in Israel some years ago, has continued to defend it.

"I am very happy with the way it went, but you don't build Rome in a day. There is an energy that builds up in a room and it is something you cannot control. You just put people in the room and let them do their thing," he said.

He believes that Farmleigh was an exercise in "deep diaspora mining" that will create bonds between the diaspora and the country.

He said that there are "mini-Farmleighs" taking place all over the world, whereby people who initially made contact at Farmleigh have now developed networks in places such as the Middle East, France and Asia.

"Nobody really controls these networks so it is hard to quantify the results of Farmleigh. How do you measure the impact of something like Facebook? It is impossible to gauge what is going on, as once you start a network, nobody really owns it."

McWilliams highlighted a number of specific examples of initiatives that have been born out of it.

He pointed to Riverdance creator John McColgan's plan for the creation of an online portal to promote Ireland. The Department of Foreign Affairs ran the event and Minister Micheál Martin has already praised McColgan's idea.

It was also reported that businessman Dermot Desmond suggested Ireland should build on its existing strengths in the arts and culture area by creating "the best university for culture and the performing arts in the world."

'Come home' campaign

Other initiatives in their gestation period include the development of the Irish Technology Leadership Group in Silicon Valley, California, where emigrants working in that area will support and promote Irish businesses trying to establish networks in the area.

There are also plans to develop a 'Come Home' campaign with Tourism Ireland to encourage the 70 million global Irish community to holiday in Ireland.

Last Thursday, Martin officially launched the government's Global Irish Network at the Irish Embassy in London.

He claimed the network "brings together for the first time some 280 individuals from different regions and different sectors, who all share a strong connection to Ireland.

"[They] have a record of high achievement in international business or have assisted in the promotion of Ireland abroad through their prominence in the cultural or sporting worlds."

Figures released to the Sunday Tribune by the Department of Foreign Affairs have shown that the cost of hosting the event "came to approximately €319,000".

A department spokeswoman said, "In planning the forum, overall costs were kept to a minimum. Participants paid for their own air fares/travel costs and the accommodation provided by the department was deliberately chosen at hotels close to the venue and at a very competitive price (€110 per night). She added: "The Global Irish Economic Forum has set Ireland's relationship with our global community on a new and more strategic course. While no specific time-frame has been set for further government-led events in Ireland, a number of regional Global Irish Network events are being organised by embassies across different regions later this year."

Speaking from Shanghai, Ken Carroll, who is a senior adviser with the Praxis Language group, defended Farmleigh as a good networking event but said, "I'm not entirely sure if it transpired into tangible results."

He refuted claims that it was merely a "talking shop". "Your average CEO is under massive pressure to save his short-lived tenure and maybe his organisation in this climate. The idea that he wants to deliberately waste time and money in a talking shop doesn't make sense. It was clear to me that the attendees took the invitation seriously. No one that I saw sought to abuse it."

He suggested the event could have been better with more preparation between the attendees in advance, better use of technology during the weekend and "organised follow-up that keeps the network buzzing throughout the year."

He pointed to the Irish government's December announcement of a €2.3m grant towards the construction of a new Irish Arts Centre in New York as a positive result of Farmleigh.

He added that most of the participants are "action-orientated people who spend their lives getting things done. It will produce results over time."

Denis Headon, director of Texas-UK Collaborative at Rice University in Houston, Texas, claims that in his extensive career as an academic abroad, he has come across "tremendous goodwill in the diaspora to mentor Irish graduates and facilitate developments in Irish business, government and educational sectors – the general opinion is that this has never been recognised on the Irish side.

"The gathering in Dublin was the first official recognition that the diaspora had potential value to Ireland. The true value of the exercise will take some time to evaluate and be realised."

He said that expanded education exchange and scholarship programmes, including the new Farmleigh Overseas Graduate Programme, will be established.

"These are direct results of the meeting and I have no doubt that additional tangible outputs will be achieved," said Headon.

'Ireland is taking a lead'

While the jury is still out on Farmleigh, one participant offered a balanced analysis. The participant, who did not wish to be named, explained that there are not many models for how countries should manage their diaspora. "Very few countries even try it, so Ireland is taking a lead in attempting to make this work."

Events such as Farmleigh and the recent Copenhagen Conference on climate change are often criticised for "not magically solving problems overnight" but conferences of this nature are "how complex problems start to get solved in the real world," he claimed.

"The other criticism I have heard is that it was a 'political stunt', an effort to make it look like the government was doing something about Ireland's economic crisis. I hope this is not the case and I don't get that sense from the politicians who were present.

"If it was a stunt, it was quite a risky one, because everybody who attended the event expects the politicians involved to take the initiative forward… This is probably not the sort of group that it makes sense to upset by appearing to use them for short-term political advantage.

"I have pragmatic expectations and understand that processes like this take time to show real results."

It is unclear if that participant's expectations are pragmatic or overly optimistic. It is clear that it will take some time for Farmleigh to show real results.