Gavin Duffy

Early life

Duffy was the youngest of three brothers and lived as a child in Sallins, County Kildare, where his father, Ned Duffy, had a pig farm. His mother, Anne Duffy, ran The Gem restaurant in Naas. He attended the local primary school, St. Laurence's, in Sallins. After outbreaks of swine fever in the early 1970s, the family sold the farm and moved to Drogheda, County Louth, where they bought a pub. He lived 'above the shop' on West Street while attending St. Joseph's Secondary School, later going to Newbridge College in County Kildare to do his Leaving Certificate.

Career

After leaving school, Duffy set up Boyneside Radio in Drogheda and changed his birth name from Liam to a 'cooler' Gavin. In 1989, he led the consortium in the country's first licensed provincial local radio station, LMFM, which was sold to UTV in 2004 for about €10 million — a sum Duffy claims holds the Irish and UK record for the highest multiple achieved for a broadcast or publishing asset. He founded his media and management consultancy Gavin Duffy and Associates (formerly Media Training) in 1992 with his wife and business partner Orlaith Carmody.

He later worked at RTÉ, where he presented the television business programme Marketplace, contributed to Morning Ireland, and presented Holiday Ireland. Duffy has been a dragon on all eight series of Dragons' Den, produced by RTÉ. In 2016, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chamber of Commerce in Drogheda. In 2017, he moderated the Fine Gael leadership election debates, which saw Leo Varadkar become party leader and Taoiseach.

He has worked as an advisor to both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and has coached a number of Taoisigh. He is Chairperson of Bizworld Ireland, a non-profit teaching entrepreneurship to primary school children, and a patron of Suzanne House and the Drogheda Classical Music Series. He is past Chairman of the Hunting Association of Ireland and has organised events in support of hunting and against protests by animal rights activists.

2018 presidential campaign

Duffy was a candidate in the 2018 presidential election. He received the first of four required nominations from Meath County Council on 3 September, followed on 10 September by nominations from Carlow and Wicklow county councils, and secured his nomination with the support of Waterford City and County Council on 14 September. During the campaign, media reported on an incident in 1978 when, aged 18, Duffy was involved in a vehicular collision in which he caused serious injury to a motorcyclist and was convicted of careless driving.

He expressed regret at the incident. In an interview on RTÉ Radio 1, he also expressed regret over a ban received for dangerous driving when he was 33, for driving his Porsche at almost twice the 40 mph limit towards the brow of a hill. He did not address a ban received at age 21 for driving without tax or insurance. Duffy received 2.2% in the election, finishing last out of the six candidates.