Gavin Duffy: ‘I’m surprised at how much I’ve spent on horses. But having horses is a necessity to me’

Gavin Duffy, best known as the longest-serving investor on RTÉ’s Dragons’ Den and as a 2018 presidential candidate, began his business and broadcasting careers by setting up a pirate radio station in his teens. By his 20s, he was a broadcaster on Morning Ireland and was co-hosting Marketplace, RTÉ’s first business TV show. In 1989, he was among the investors in LMFM, the country’s first licensed provincial radio station, selling it to UTV for €10m in 2004. At LMFM, he met his wife, journalist-turned-media-trainer Orlaith Carmody, and the pair set up a media training consultancy and a recruitment firm. Duffy is the Louth ambassador for Age Friendly Ireland, a WHO initiative that aims to help cities, counties and towns improve the life and health of older adults. I was born in Kildare. Dad had a pig farm that was the largest in Ireland and my mother was involved in the restaurant business. Money was discussed night and day in our house. Every night at the restaurant, there was a comparison with that day’s revenue compared with the previous day’s revenue.