DUBLIN: Major-winning Irish golfer Shane Lowry on Tuesday ended Tuesday his sponsorship with the Ireland-based construction firm Kingspan after it was criticized in a public inquiry report into the Grenfell Tower fire.

The 37-year-old Irishman, British Open winner in 2019, said in a statement that his partnership with Kingspan, which 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,” said the statement.

“Neither party will be commenting further,” it said. The tragedy in west London was Britain’s worst peacetime fire since World War II, in which 72 men, women and children died. Survivor groups have heavily criticized Kingspan, one of three firms that were singled out in last week’s report.

The report exempted Kingspan, whose headquarters is in Cavan, northwest of Dublin, from responsibility for the spread of the fire on the night. But it found that the firm had “knowingly” created “a false market for insulation”, had used “dishonest strategies” and had shown “a complete disregard for fire safety”. Survivors previously accused Lowry of ignoring their appeals to ditch the sponsorship. — AFP