Shane Lowry delivers heartfelt statement to Grenfell Tower families after dropping sponsor

The 2019 Open Champion severed ties with his long-term sponsor earlier this week.

Shane Lowry has spoken out about his decision to end his sponsorship deal with Kingspan after the Cavan-based construction company were heavily criticised in the final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry last week.

The PGA Tour golfer announced yesterday that he will no longer be sponsored by the building materials company and that the two had “mutually agreed to discontinue our sponsorship relationship”.

The report concluded that while Kingspan were not directly responsible for the fire, the company showed "complete disregard for fire safety" in how it marketed one of its products.

The Grenfell Tower is a derelict 24-storey residential tower block situated in North Kensington, London, which went up in flames in June 2017, resulting in the deaths of 72 people.

It found that Kingspan "knowingly created a false market in insulation" from 2005 onwards for its Kooltherm K15 product, which was used on the building but found not to be the reason for the fire.

The inquiry branded this a false claim, adding: "As Kingspan knew, K15 could not honestly be sold as suitable for use in the external walls of buildings over 18 metres in height generally, but that is what it had succeeded in doing for many years."

The report outlined that Kingspan relied on the results of a single cladding fire safety test performed in 2005, on a system whose components were not representative of a typical external wall.

It added that the company continued to rely on that test despite changing the composition of K15 in 2006.

Lowry, who is preparing for this week's Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down, was asked by the media in a press conference why he had come to the decision to sever ties with Kingspan.

"I can't imagine what those families have gone through in the last few years... my heart goes out to them."

Shane Lowry speaks briefly about the Grenfell Tower families, having cut ties with construction firm Kingspan this week. pic.twitter.com/eFIkYAXG1t

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"I can't imagine what those families are going through for the past few years," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and talk too much about it.

"It's obviously a touchy subject. My heart goes out to them, it is what it is for me and Kingspan.

"I've said all I have to yesterday. I said at the end of the statement I wasn't going to make any further comment, I'm sticking by that."

Kingspan are one of the biggest businesses in Ireland, and used to also sponsor Ulster Rugby until earlier this year when those ties were severed.