The pig farmer’s son who became a DJ and millionaire
HE MAY have been born on a Kildare pig farm but there’s no indication that Gavin Duffy ever wanted for much as a child. For starters, Dorland Farm near Sallins was owned by his father Edward who bought it at auction in 1953. A haulier from Castlerea, Edward sold the farm in 1971 and bought the Gem bar and restaurant on Drogheda’s West Street when Gavin, then called Liam, was 11.
The bar later became the Weavers when it was taken over by Duffy’s brother Eamon.
Today, Duffy’s campaign HQ is across the street from the pub he grew up in with Eamon and another brother Pádraig – a solicitor once censured and fined €10,000 by the Law Society for a series of failures to honour client undertakings on property deals.
When Gavin was 15 his father was in court for allegedly punching and threatening to kill a 26-year-old waitress and throw her body in the Boyne. He was fined £60 reduced to £25 on appeal.
Such dramas aside the family business afforded Duffy a privileged lifestyle that included a Golden Palomino pony with which he hunted, pony-clubbed and showjumped before selling it in 1976 at the age of 16.
Having learned to drive, Duffy ran discos and entertainment shows in nearby towns and counties. His radio career began in 1980 with Local Radio Drogheda – a pirate that became Boyneside Radio – before leaving to form his own pirate, Community Radio Drogheda. By the early Eighties he’d moved to Leinster Radio in Dublin. A 1983 clampdown silenced the pirates in anticipation of a licensed regime for which Duffy actively campaigned.
Duffy – now working for RTÉ and Carr Communications – was among the investors that won the licence in Louth and Meath and LMFM was launched in 1989 by then-minister Ray Burke.
According to the Drogheda Independent at the time there was a ‘strong FF presence on the sixman board’ of LMFM. The return on their estimated €150k each investment was substantial when the station sold for €10m in 2004.
Duffy married RTÉ journalist Orlaith Carmody in the Canary Islands on St Patrick’s Day 1993. She was on the RTÉ board from 1999 to 2015 and together with Duffy ran Aerga Productions Ltd – which won a number of RTÉ commissions during her tenure.
In 1998 they bought Kilsharvan – their lavish Meath country estate, which made headlines as the first home to top the million pound mark in the region. His Irish Nationwide-funded property empire, once reported to be worth €100m, has been sold and just Kilsharvan remains, together with Duffy’s famed ambition which continues to expand abundantly.