Pressure on Kingspan's sponsorship deals in Ireland after Grenfell inquiry link

Kingspan's sponsorship deal with Cavan GAA and its naming rights over Kingspan Breffni Park may be in jeopardy.

Pressure on Kingspan — the €18bn Irish building materials giant — has grown over its links to the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster in London after British cabinet minister Michael Gove urged Ulster Rugby to reconsider its sponsorship deal that includes the naming rights by Kingspan of the Ravenhill stadium in Belfast.

The spotlight has also fallen on Kingspan's sponsorship deal with Cavan GAA and its naming rights over Kingspan Breffni Park.          

Mr Gove, whose wide-ranging responsibilities include housing and communities, had previously intervened this month over a separate Kingspan sponsorship deal with the F1 Mercedes Petronas team, whose lead driver Lewis Hamilton. He said then that the F1 deal was “truly shocking” because the Grenfell inquiry was still ongoing.

A view of the Kingspan logo, on the car of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton as he makes a pit stop during the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jiddah, Sunday, December 5, 2021. Picture: Andrej Isakovic, Pool Photo via AP, File

In the latest intervention, Mr Gove revealed he had written to Ulster Rugby "asking them to reconsider their relationship with insulation firm Kingspan" as the Grenfell inquiry has yet to conclude. 

Amid an outcry that also involved survivors' group Grenfell United, Kingspan pulled the multi-million "sustainability and sponsorship" deal on December 8 — just a week after first making it public.        

Kingspan's sponsorship deals now face controversy just over a year after it gave evidence to the inquiry into the causes of the fire that led to the deaths of 72 people in Grenfell Tower in London in June 2017.    

Kingspan has said it had no part in the exterior cladding and that only a small amount of its so-called K15 product was supplied and "substituted without our knowledge". 

It had also condemned "unacceptable historical conduct and emails" which emerged during the inquiry from employees at its Kingspan Insulation UK business. A spokesman for Kingspan said it had not commented on Ulster Rugby matter.             

A spokesman for the IRFU said it had been kept informed about the matter. "However, as it is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for the IRFU to comment further, at this time," said an IRFU spokesman.   

A spokesman for the GAA said at a central level it had no sponsorship arrangement with Kingspan, and county arrangements were managed at local county committees. A spokesman for Cavan GAA said it had no comment to make regarding Kingspan.