Stripe's Patrick Collison to schmooze with the global elite at his Bilderberg debut

THE LIMERICK-RAISED chief executive of online payments firm Stripe will make his debut appearance at the secretive Bilderberg schmoozefest kicking off today.

Billionaire Patrick Collison – who founded the payment company with his brother, John – will rub shoulders with the likes of elder statesman Henry Kissinger as a group of international politicians, bankers and business titans gather for the annual think-in.

There will 131 elites at this year’s Bilderberg meeting, which takes place in Chantilly, Virginia.

According to the official list of attendees – which cites Collison as an American citizen – two Irish bigwigs will be at the event: Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary and Kingspan boss Gene Murtagh.

Unlike in previous years, there will be no representatives from the Irish government at the event. However, it’s worth noting that the guest list is only partially published, and those wishing to keep their attendance secret can do so.

Another participant of note for Ireland is Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor who made a fortune buying and selling Bank of Ireland shares. Ross is attending under his remit as US secretary of commerce.

Donald Trump and Wilbur Ross

Other Trump supporters at this year’s gathering include national security advisor HR McMaster and billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel.

Critics of the Donald will also be in attendance, namely Eric Schmidt, the executive director of Google’s parent Alphabet.

Schmidt said in January that the Trump administration would do “evil things”.

Secretive

The Bilderberg group has met every year since 1954. It was created as a forum for fostering dialogue between Europe and North America.

The event runs in strict accordance with the ‘Chatham House rule’, which means that those in attendance are free to use the information shared by other attendees but cannot disclose the identity of the speaker.

Strict security measures are put in place to ensure that the event is private.

News outlets are not invited to cover the event, although a number of media personnel will participate in this year’s forum, including London Evening Standard editor and ex-UK chancellor George Osborne.

George Osborne

The secretive nature of the Bilderberg group has inspired a number of conspiracy theories.

One of the more interesting claims came from David Icke, the former BBC sports presenter who later proclaimed himself to be the son of God.

He believes that many of those in attendance descend from lizards that have used their shape-shifting skills to make their way into the upper echelons of power. You can read more about the goings-on at the Bilderberg meetings in this guide compiled by Fora.

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