Shane Lowry has ended his partnership with construction firm Kingspan in the wake of the official report into the Grenfell fire. Lowry, who will be playing this week in the Irish Open at Royal County Down, released a brief statement to the media on Tuesday morning confirming that his partnership with Kingspan, which had dated back to 2017, was now at an end.
“Kingspan and I have mutually agreed to discontinue our sponsorship relationship, which we believe to be the right decision for all concerned at this time” he said. “Neither party will be commenting further.”
The move was welcomed by survivors’ group Grenfell United. “We first presented Shane Lowry with the Inquiry’s evidence 3 years ago, so we are pleased he has made the right decision to cut ties with Kingspan,” they said in a statement. “We now call on all other sports professionals to follow suit and play their part to create a legacy for the 72 innocent lives that were cut short at Grenfell.”
Kingspan have been the subject of huge criticism from survivors’ groups over the years and were one of three firms who were singled out in last week’s report into how the 2017 disaster came about. Although the report exempted the Cavan firm from responsibility for the spread of the fire on the night, it variously found that Kingspan had “knowingly” created “a false market for insulation”, had used “dishonest strategies” and had shown “a complete disregard for fire safety”.
In that context, it comes as no surprise that Lowry has moved on from his association with the company. Ahead of the report’s release last week, the 2019 Open champion was the subject of a story in The Guardian newspaper in which a spokesman for Grenfell United criticised Lowry for ignoring their entreaties to ditch Kingspan.
“We’ve been writing to him for years, saying get this sponsorship off your arm,” said Ed Daffarn. “It’s deeply upsetting and deeply offensive, and he doesn’t reply to us.”
For Kingspan, the ending of their partnership with Lowry is the latest in a string of separations brought about in response to pressure from Grenfell survivors’ groups. Back in 2021, the Mercedes Formula One team cut short a sponsorship deal with Kingspan after just one race, having faced loud condemnation in the UK over their association, including from then government minister Michael Gove.
Closer to home, Kingspan’s two-decade association with Ulster Rugby is in the process of being wound down. The Grenfell issue has never been explicitly blamed, with both sides preferring to characterise it as the partnership running its course. Either way, the company’s naming rights on Ravenhill will run out at the end of the current season.
Kinspan also have partnerships with, among others, golfer Leona Maguire, ex-rugby player Johnny Sexton, sailor Tom Dalton, the East of Ireland golf tournament and Uruguay rugby. Lowry has always been the most high-profile pitchman for the brand, however.
As a global star of his sport, both a major winner and Ryder Cup stalwart, the Clara man is one of the most recognisable faces in the game. His profile has only grown over the period of time that he has had Kingspan as a sponsor.
With Lowry’s career earnings having long passed the €20m mark, the monetary value of his Kingspan ambassadorship is unlikely to have been all that significant to him at this stage. But it was clearly causing him reputational damage, which he will hope has now come to an end.
