Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Event Centre Comments, Sunday 17 August 2014

Arts, Enterprise, Kieran's Council Work, National, Uncategorized

I welcome the new tendering process for the event centre. The centre is a key piece of infrastructure that this city needs.

However no discussion has taken place with councillors on the new tendering process despite pleas for information over the last few weeks. It is also surprising to see that e.4m from Council funds has now been ‘Officially’ set aside for the eventual chosen site.  Up to now, tentative figures have been bounced around but nothing set in stone but now on the new tender document, a figure is set. No one has approached the elected members of Council to tell us this in person. I have had to read it in the press. As an elected member, this is a disgrace. One of our powers is to control and debate value for money for the Council’s expenditure.

The Lord Mayor needs to convene a special meeting to discuss the parameters of the councillors’ role in this the new tendering process. Spending e.4m of e.14m means that councillors ‘Now’ have a significant say in the choice of site. The event centre does not need to become a political football, which make no mistake about it is about to become. The new tendering process demands a transparent process where all sides, Councillors, City Hall officials, the external review committee and the proposed developers all know the parameters of the new process. The whole process will unravel again closer to decision time again if parameters are not set now.

Events Centre Update

Cork City Events, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

Cork City Council Press Release:

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Mary Shields today (Friday, August 15) welcomed the commencement of the second phase of the tender process for the Cork Events Centre.

 Cllr. Shields expects a very positive response from interested parties and believes that a preferred tenderer can be secured before the end of the year, with work commencing on the events centre in early 2015.

 “The city’s bid to secure a preferred tenderer has now moved from a competitive dialogue to a competitive negotiation tendering procedure and notice of that was posted on the Official Journal of the European Union yesterday (Thursday, August 14). We continue to have a robust process in place to deal with this part of the procedure and having assessed where we are we believe we can achieve a positive result by engaging in the negotiated tender phase.

“The Cork Events Centre is a crucially important project for the city of Cork and the greater Cork area in terms of jobs, tourism, concerts, exhibitions and conferences. Given the growing improvement in the economy I believe the second phase will attract greater interest and competition from operators and promoters,” said Cllr. Shields.

 An outline of the negotiated process is:

·         Suitability  assessment questionnaire

·         Selection of suitable entities

·         Submission of initial tender

·         Commencement of negotiations

·         Assessment of tenders and selection of preferred tenderer.

 The preferred tenderer will be announced in November/December 2014.

Interested parties will tender for available public funding totaling €14 million, which has been committed by the Government (€10m) and Cork City Council (€4m).  Any further public funding will be on a repayable basis.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 14 August 2014

Cork City Events, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

755a. Shandon silhouetted through a recent sunset

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 14 August 2014

Kieran’s Heritage Week, 23-31 August 2014

 

National Heritage Week is upon us again at the end of next week (23 – 31 August). It’s going to be a busy week. In the city and county, there is a wide range of events on. The City Library has an extensive local history lecture programme. I will post all events on my facebook page, Cork: Our City, Our Town. I have set up a number of events. They are all free and I welcome any public support for the activities outlined below.

 

Kieran’s Heritage Week, 23-30 August 2014

 

Heritage Open Day:

 

Saturday 23 August 2014 – Historical Walking Tour of City Hall with Kieran; Learn about the early history of Cork City Hall and Cork City Council, Discover the development of the building and visit the Lord Mayor’s Room, 11am, ticketed (free, duration: 75 minutes). The current structure, replaced the old City Hall, which was destroyed in the ‘burning of Cork’ in 1920. It was designed by Architects Jones and Kelly and built by the Cork Company Sisks. The foundation stone was laid by Eamonn de Valera, President of the Executive Council of the State on 9 July 1932. For more on Cork Heritage Open Day, check out www.corkheritageopenday.ie

 

Kieran’s Heritage Week, 24-31 August 2014:

 

Sunday 24 August 2014 – Eighteenth century Cork historical walking tour, Branding a City-Making a Venice of the North, with Kieran; meet at City Library, Grand Parade, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

 For nearly five hundred years (c.1200-c.1690), the walled port town of Cork, built in a swamp and at the lowest crossing point of the River Lee and the tidal area, remained as one of the most fortified and vibrant walled settlements in the expanding British colonial empire. The walls served as a vast repository of meanings, symbolism, iconography and ideology, as well as symbols of order and social relationships. However, economic growth as well as political events in late seventeenth century Ireland, culminating in the destruction of the city’s core in 1690, provided the catalyst for large-scale change within the urban area. The walls were allowed to decay and this was to inadvertently alter much of the city’s physical, social and economic character in the ensuing century. By John Rocque’s Map of Cork in 1759, the walls of Cork were just a memory- the medieval plan was now a small part in something larger – larger in terms of population from 20,000 to 73,000 plus in terms of a new townscape. A new urban text emerged with new bridges, streets, quays, residences and warehouses built to intertwine with the natural riverine landscape. New communities created new social and cultural landscapes to encounter, several of which are explored on my tours for this year’s heritage week.

 

Monday 25 August 2014 – Shandon Historical Walking Tour  with Kieran, Discover the City’s historical quarter; learn about St Anne’s Church and the development of the butter market and the Shandon Street area; meet at North Gate Bridge, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

There are multiple layers of history around the Shandon quarter. Amongst them is the story of the great butter market. By the mid 1700s, the native butter industry in Cork had grown to such an extent due to British empire expansion that it was decided among the main city and county butter merchants that an institution be established in the city that would control and develop its potential. These ‘Committee of Butter Merchants’ located themselves in a simple commissioned building adjacent to Shandon. The committee comprised 21 members who were chosen by the merchants in the city.  In May 1770, it was decided by the Cork Committee that all butter to be exported from Cork was to be examined by appointed inspectors who had two main duties to perform. Firstly, they had to examine and determine the quality and weight of the butter. Secondly, they had to examine and report on the manner of packing and to detect and signs of fraud. 

 

Tuesday 26 August 2014- Blackpool Historical Walking Tour with Kieran, From Fair Hill to the heart of Blackpool, learn about nineteenth century shambles, schools, convents and industries, meet at the North Mon gates, Gerald Griffin Avenue, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

The walking tour weaves its way from the North Mon into Blackpool, Shandon and Gurranbraher highlighting nineteenth century life in this corner of Cork from education to housing to politics, to religion, to industry and to social life itself. Blackpool was the scene of industry in Cork in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for industries such as tanning through big names such as Dunn’s Tannery and distilling through families such as the Hewitts. The leather industry at one vibrant in Blackpool with no fewer than 46 tanyards at work there in 1837 giving employment to over 700 hands and tanning on average 110,000 hides annually.

 

Kieran’s other walking tours include:

Thursday 28 August 2014 – Docklands Historical Walking Tour with Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Discover the history of the city’s docks, meet at Kennedy Park, Victoria Road, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

 

Saturday 30 August 2014,  Douglas Historical Walking Tour with Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Discover about the sailcoth and woollen mills, meet at St. Columba’s Church Car Park, Douglas, 2pm (free, duration: two hours).

 

Captions:

 

755a. Shandon silhouetted through a recent sunset (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 7 August 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

754a. Advertisement for Dunlops tyres, 1960s

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent,  7 August 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 85) –Plans for Modernisation”

 

In 1934, the Irish Dunlop Company commenced manufacture in Ireland at its factory at Centre Park Road, held under a lease from Henry Ford & Son.  Under a State manufacture licence, the company was to provide at least eighty per cent in quantity of the country’s requirements of pneumatic rubber tyres.

In a Dáil Éireann debate in mid June 1935, Seán Lemass moved the adoption of a quota order, which prohibited the importation of motor tyres and tubes except under licence. During a debate he noted that the Dunlop Co had been informed that it would be the policy of the Government to refuse a licence to any other external company to manufacture in the country any class of goods, which were being produced by that firm in their factory in Cork. Dunlops would have to produce in sufficient quantities of satisfactory quality and at reasonable prices.

Snippets of social history from this time include the foundation for its famous social club or at this time its Athletic Club set up at the works in late 1936. In December of that year, at the Novices’ Cross-Country Championship at Bandon, the club was represented by eight competitors. W A Nestor, a county and Munster sprint champion had joined the workforce in 1936 as well as prominent athlete, Florrie O’Mahony from Ballydehob. Florrie’s brother was Danno who won the NWA World title from Jim Londos in Boston on 30 June 1935, and was known as the “Irish Whip” in celebration of his famous throwing technique. He was also a champion hammer-thrower and a statue of Danno today exists in the heart of Ballydehob.

At the outbreak of World War II, the Dunlop company was producing virtually all types of pneumatic tyres, a complete range of rubber footwear, rubber soles and heels, rubber hot water bottles, golf balls, tennis balls and sundry other articles manufactured with rubber – the output was deemed at a level sufficient to meet the requirements of the home market. However War created a shortage of raw materials and forced the company to concentrate on the production of tyres to the virtual exclusion of other goods. In the Irish Press on 21 November 1941 (p2) the journalist wrote that the Irish Dunlop Company Ltd was appointed official agents by the government for disposal of all grades of salvage rubber. It was illegal to dispose of salvage rubber otherwise than to the government’s authorised agents. Cash payments were to made on the spot who had rubber.

By April 1947, the company entered into a contract to purchase from Messrs Henry Ford & Son Ltd for £260,000 its factory at Marina Cork. It was initially held under a lease, which was due to expire. The then factory was deemed a modern building, containing nearly 200,000 square feet of floor space, fronting upon a deep water berth on the River Lee (Irish Independent, 17 April 1947, p.7). To meet the purchase price and to provide for the cost of extensions onto adjoining ground, and new equipment, a sum of approximately £450,000 was required. The sum of £330,700 was raised through an increase in the company’s issues share capital of 100,000 ordinary shares. Preference shares to existing shareholders and first mortgage debenture stock were to provide the rest of the funding required.

Fast forward to the 1960s and many Irish households and Irish industrial and commercial projects were dependent on Dunlop to a large or minor extent. An article in the Irish Press by journalist Liam Flynn on 23 April 1962 (p.9) reminded readers that the company produced 35,000 golf balls a year and tennis balls were coming onto the market from Cork at the rate of 6,000 dozen a year. Footwear had leaped from 730,000 pairs in 1936 to 1,500,000 pairs in 1961. Although Dunlop supplied the entire country, the output far exceeded the demands and consequently there was a solid export market engineered through their worldwide organisation. Many countries in the world used some Cork products including large markets in Britain and Germany and further afield in South Africa, Pakistan and the US. Despite the Cork work’s connection with the massive worldwide organisation, the Irish section of 2,500 employees was manned almost exclusively by Irish personnel. In an interview by Mr Flynn with Mr E J Power, general manager of the company in Ireland, Mr Power noted of the forecast that the car population of the country was to grow at a faster rates. Mr Power noted: “we are carrying out plans for modernisation, to meet the growing volume of the Irish market”.

Mr Power’s plans were revealed as costing £2million when unveiled in November 1965. The expansion programme included moving the Dunlop head office from Dublin to Cork’s Marina to a specially constructed six-storey block. A new sales head-quarters was to be erected in Dublin. The company had found that the factory and headquarters were best sited together, giving close liaison between management and production departments. The new office block at Cork was designed so that a computer centre could occupy the whole of one floor. The nucleus of the research staff, recruited from Irish universities, then begun in Dunlop’s central research and development division, located near Fort Dunlop, Birmingham.

To be continued…

 

Captions:

754a. Advertisement for Dunlop’s Tyres, 1960s (Source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 31 July 2014

Cork History, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

753a. Former Dunlops building, Lower Road, Cork, 1927-1934

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 31 July 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 84) –Building a Tyre Empire”

 

“What began as an initial pilot for tyre manufacture grew into a major industrial complex, producing a range of products varying from mattresses to footwear and golf-balls. Along with its neighbouring Marina twin, Ford, have they have become two of the corner-stones of Cork’s prosperity and account for a major portion of the city’s employable pool. Barely 24 hours prior to Mr E J Power’s announcement about Dunlop’s expansion, Mr T Brennan, Managing Director of Fords, announced his company’s intention of spending of £1.5 million to their assembly capacity” (Journalist, Irish Press, Monday 15 November 1965, p.6).

On Thursday 11 November 1965, Irish Dunlop held a press conference. Mr E J Power, Chief Executive outlined the new re-organisation plans for the company – a massive project involving the capital outlay of some £2m and the building of two entirely new giant blocks in Dublin and Cork. This was another enormous investment package into the Cork region like those written about in the column the last couple of weeks.

At the conference, Mr Power traced the history of Dunlop’s contribution to the national Industrial effort beginning back in the mid-thirties when the company undertook large scale, native manufacture of road tyres as a vital contribution to the infant assembly industry and looked after 80 per cent of the country’s tyre needs. Much of Dunlop’s early story in Cork has not been penned. With no social history ever written, its early evolution is tied up with snippets of stories in national and regional newspapers through time.

The story of Dunlops is said to have began with Scots Veterinary John Boyd Dunlop. He established Downe Veterinary Clinic in Downpatrick with his brother James Dunlop before moving to a practice in May Street, Belfast. John, one day on fixing of his son’s tricycle heard his son complaining about the rubber coverings on the wheels of the tricycle. John set about creating a simple invention – the pneumatic tyre. Continuing to experiment, he patented his invention in 1888. However, two years after he was granted the patent Dunlop was officially informed that it was invalid as Scottish inventor Robert William Thomson (1822–1873), had patented the idea in France in 1846 and in the US in 1847. Nevertheless, Dunlop’s idea gripped the public imagination in a big way when racing cyclist, William Hume, using pneumatic tyres, won every cycling event at Queen’s University Sports. Soon businessmen and mps such as Harvey Du Cros and others competed for shares in Dublin – Pneumatic Tyre and Booths Cycle Agency Ltd – to which John Boyd sold his patent rights and of which he became a director. John Dunlop resigned from the company in 1895, and sold most of his shares in the company.

 

In the early 1890s Dunlop Tyres established divisions in Europe and North America. The company established factories overseas. Dunlop partnered with local cycle firms such as Clement Cycles in France and Adler in Germany. The American Dunlop Tyre Company was established in the USA in 1893, with a factory in New York.  In 1893, British manufacture was relocated from Belfast and Dublin to Coventry, which was the centre of the British cycle industry. In 1896 Harvey Du Cros sold the company to the English financier Ernest Terah Hooley for £3 million. Almost immediately, Hooley refloated the company for £5 million as the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company.  From 1900, the company began to diversify from cycle tyres and manufactured its first motor car tyre. In 1906, a car wheel manufacturing plant was built. In 1910 Dunlop developed its first aeroplane tyre and golf ball. By 1918, Dunlop was the fourteenth largest manufacturing company in Britain, and its only large scale tyre manufacturer. In the late 1920s, Dunlop had manufacturing subsidiaries in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and Japan.  By 1930, Dunlop secured an equal market share with its arch rival Michelin in France.

The Dunlop Rubber Company (Ireland) Ltd was incorporated on 24 March 1924. An article in the Cork Examiner, 16 November 1927 reveals that the company found it necessary to open a large distribution depot in Cork for the southern trade. To suit their purpose they erected a large brick and ferro-concrete structure at the Lower Glanmire Road adjacent to Kent Station. The storage space of the building amounted to 9,000 square feet. A hydro-electric solid tyre fitting press was installed, and also a compressor for giant tyres. A full range of pneumatic and solid motor tyres, and all accessories, were stocked. Goods manufactured by the subsidiary companies of the Dunlop group were to be stocked at Dunlop House, which included waterproof garments, rubber goods, and sporting requisites. The distribution depot manager was T W Kerrigan, former assistant Irish manager and Southern representative of the company, who had 25 years connection with the motor and cycle business.

In 1934, the Irish Dunlop Company Limited became a public company and commenced manufacturing at a new factory, leasing a building from Fords on the Marina. The then Minister for Industry Seán Lemass TD made a deal with Dunlops to entice them to set up a factory whereby the company would have an 80 per cent share of tyre production in the Irish Free State.

To be continued…

 

Caption:

 

753a. Former Dunlops building, Lower Road, Cork, 1927-1934 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 24 July 2014

Cork City Events, Cork History, International, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

752a. Mary Harris aka Mother Jones

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 24 July 2014

The Spirit of Mother Jones, 29 July-1 August 2014

 

Next week sees the third Spirit of Mother Jones Festival, which remembers the life and times of Cork born woman Mary Harris or Mother Jones. She, according to our autobiography, which can be accessed online as well as some of her speeches and some filmed speeches, was an American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent labour and community organiser, who helped co-ordinate major strikes and co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World.

The Cork Mother Jones Commemorative committee was established in 2012 to mark the 175th anniversary of the birth of Mary Harris / Mother Jones in Cork. After a highly successful festival marking that anniversary it was decided to make the festival an annual event marking the life and legacy of Mother Jones. Although famous in other parts of the world, especially in the United States of America where she was once labelled “the most dangerous woman in America”, Cork born Mary Jones (née Harris) – or Mother Jones as she is perhaps more widely known – was virtually unknown and not recognised as yet in her native city.  The festivals and activities of this committee have changed that and now the name of Mother Jones is better known in Cork and beyond.

The Cork Mother Jones Commemorative Committee, in conjunction with Cork City Council commissioned Cork Sculptor Mike Wilkins to create a limestone plaque to honour Mother Jones in the Shandon area of the city, near her birthplace.  This plaque was erected near the famous Cork Butter Market and was unveiled on 1 August 2012 which is the 175th Anniversary of her baptism in the North Cathedral.  Her parents were Ellen Cotter, a native of Inchigeela and Richard Harris from Cork city. Few details of her early life in Cork have been uncovered to date, though it is thought by some that she was born on Blarney Street and may have attended the North Presentation Schools nearby.  She and her family emigrated to Canada soon after the Famine, probably in the early 1850s. Later in the United States, after tragic deaths of her husband George Jones and their four children, she became involved in the struggle for basic rights for workers and children’s rights, leading from the front, often in a militant fashion.

Mary is best known for her fiery speeches against the exploitation of miners; she was utterly fearless, travelling all over America to defend workers and their families.  Mother Jones was one of the best and most active union organizers ever seen in America. She became a legend among the coalminers of West Virginia and Pennsylvania; Mother Jones was fearless and faced down the guns and court threats of the mine bosses. In 1905 she was the only woman to attend the inaugural meeting of the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies). Later she became an organiser for the Socialist Party and continued her defence of workers in industrial disputes across America. She was arrested and jailed in West Virginia for her activities during the Paint Creek, Cabin Creek strikes, but later released following large demonstrations of her supporters. Between 1912 and 1914 she was involved in the “coal wars” of Colorado which led to the infamous Ludlow Massacre, where 19 miners and members of their families were killed. She was imprisoned many times but always released quickly due to huge local support for her activities.

Described as “the most dangerous woman in America”, her cry of “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living” still resonates through history! Her autobiography was published in 1925. She passed away at the age of 93 in 1930 and is buried at Mount Olive Union cemetery in Illinois, where a museum will be erected to her memory shortly. When she died in 1930, she was a legend in her adopted land.  A magazine (Mother Jones) is still published to this day, along with dozens of books and countless references in US Labour History.  She certainly can claim to be the most famous Cork woman in the history of the United States of America.

The spirit of Mother Jones Festival continues this year with a number of writers, film producers and people associated with Mother Jones in the United States. There are concerts, public lectures and discussions held in the Maldron Hotel and the Firkin Crane centre.  One lecture of real contemporary resonance is on Wednesday afternoon 30th July, at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival, Claire McGettrick, co-founder of Justice for Magdalenes (now JFM Research) will speak at the Firkin Crane in Shandon, Cork,  about the story of the Magdalenes. Claire is an activist, researcher and also co-founder of the Adoption Rights Alliance. She worked as Research Assistant on the project Magdalene Institutions: Recording an Archival and Oral History, which collected the oral histories of 79 interviewees, including 35 Magdalene survivors. The Magdalene Names Project, which is central to Claire’s work with JFM Research, makes use of historical archives to develop a partial, repaired narrative of the lives of some of the women who died behind convent walls, with the aim of creating a lasting memorial to these women.

More information on the Spirit of Mother Jones festival can be seen at:  http://motherjonescork.com/2014-programme/

Caption:

752a. Mary Harris aka Mother Jones (source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 17 July 2014

Cork City Events, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

751a. Ford Consul Cortina Ad, 1962

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town,

Cork Independent, 17 July 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 83) –Stylising the Landscape”

“Outside the little stream, where the cart wheels were shod I meandered idly by. And the circular platform was still in place. It looked as if the owner had one day got weary of the struggle…then he closed the doors of the little social centre, where the neighbours had met and discussed happenings, far and near, through the generations…some of the craft had survived by adapting their forge to the art of welding and the repair of the new agricultural machinery used in farming: but they were only a minority” (John T Collins, “The Deserted Forge”, Hollybough, 1963).

 

In October 1967, as related in last week’s column, Taoiseach Jack Lynch at the opening of the £2m investment into the Ford Factory on the Marina marked not only change for Ford but also for the motoring population. Lynch during his address related that his government had to cut back on the country’s loss making railway system and spent vast sums on the Irish road networks; “we have had to impose speed limits and complicated systems of traffic control in our towns and cities, while the need to cater for the projected increase in car numbers has been a major factor in the planning of future towns and rural development”. Newspapers like the Hollybough (see above quote), the Cork Examiner and Evening Echo commented on change regularly since the first motor car rolled across the Cork street in the 1910s all the way through to the problem of parking and traffic movement in the 1960s. One I came across recently was the installation of the first set of traffic lights in July 1954 at the junction of Washington Street and the Grand Parade (60 years old since this installation this month). Erected by Messrs Siemens, London, the lights were of a similar type to those being used in some other Irish cities, except that in Cork pedestrian lights were introduced to work in conjunction with the regular lights.

Car dealerships spread and grew with the growth of Irish motoring and there were 87 main Ford dealers in the country in 1966. Fords could record that 11,041 out of 39,546 new car owners chose one of the 12 cars Ford had to offer. The Ford Cortina, introduced in 1962, during its production run was the biggest selling model ever on the Irish market. Next on the range were the Ford Corsair and the Ford Anglia followed by the new range of Ford Zephyr and Ford Zodiac models. The Cork Examiner in October 1967 commented on their affect on the urban and rural landscapes of the country; “Mechanical refinements of independent rear suspension, along with sophisticated styling.. these new cars have become as much of the social scene as their imposing size and impressive appearance would suggest”.

Then there was the sister factory Dagenham in east London, which was the largest motor exporting factory in the world. The first vehicle, a Model AA truck, rolled off its production line in October 1931. In the post war years Dagenham turned its interests to the revolutionary Consul and Zephyr range of cars. Major expansion in the 1950s increased floor space by 50% and doubled production. By 1953 the site occupied four million square feet and employed 40,000 people. An article in the Hollybough in 1954 related that 75 per cent of the Irish in the Dagenham area, circa a total of 3,300 men, were employed there. An old North Monastery boy, Michael J Ronayne, with more than 30 years experience with the company in Cork and Dagenham, was the Chief Engineer in Europe of the Ford organisation. His brother jack was engineer in charge of the building of Gurranabraher and Spangle Hill houses.

As the swinging 60s took hold, Dagenham moved on to a car destined to become one of the favourites – the Ford Cortina. By the time the last Cortina left the line in 1982, the plant had built over three million. In Cork and Dagenham and further afield, Ford technologists, in the search for higher standards, contacted Swedish experts in industrial ventilation and air-handling, Svenska Fläktfabriken. They were world leaders in the complex problems of mining ventilation, they took up a leading role in the equally difficult task of providing the highly specialised conditions for car-body finishing.

The opening of the Cork factory extension in 1967 coincided with ceremonies celebrating the advent of first a tractor factory which sent machines to all parts of the world. With such heritage, service was also of vital importance to the farming community. The ready availability of spare parts from the 38 Ford Tractor Dealers strategically placed throughout Ireland ensured rapid and efficient service for owners and operators of Ford Tractors. In addition, the Agricultural Colleges National Ploughing Championships were initiated in 1966 and sponsored by Henry Ford & Son Ltd., Cork with the intention of stimulating interest in a wider understanding of the skills and values of good ploughing and tillage methods. Prizes of £300 and £150 were awarded to the winners of the Championships. After competitors from all the agricultural colleges had completed qualifying tests under National Ploughing Association rules the successful candidates contested the finals at the National Ploughing Championships.

To be continued…

Captions:

751a. Consul Cortina Ad 1962 (source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Question to the City Manager and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 14 July 2014

Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

Question to the City Manager:

 

To ask the City Manager, what is the future plan for the 9 unsold affordable houses in Kilbrack Grove, Skehard Road? Residents were given assurances at the time of purchase in the estate by the Council that they would be only Affordable housing and that this would not change.  Planning was sought for affordable housing – not social- can this suddenly change? Assurances were given to the residents and local councillors that these would only ever be an Affordable estate- can the council go back on their word? Nine Social houses in an estate of 41 is almost a 25% split- this seems large? This will affect people’s home value significantly- will they be compensated by Cork City Council? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

 

 

Motions:

 

That the north west lamp on St Patrick’s Bridge, closest one to Camden Quay, be fixed (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

That in light of numerous tour buses parking by St Finbarre’s Cathedral, that a tour bus parking bay be re-instated (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 10 July 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

750a. An Taoiseach, Jack Lynch cutting the tape with Mr Tom Brennan, Managing Director

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 10 July 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 82) –The Ford Expansion”

 

“For 50 years the Ford Company has been part of the industrial life of this city but of course Fords links with Cork go back much further. The story of Henry Ford, whose father emigrated from Ballinascarty 120 weary years ago is so well-known that much of it is already folklore. Indeed the record of his life and achievements looms large in the history of the development of modern industrial methods, many of which he devised and brought to perfection” (part of speech, An Taoiseach Jack Lynch, Ford Factory, Cork, 11 October, 1967,)

The decade of the 1960s also brought new opportunities to the Ford manufacturing plant in Cork’s Marina. The special supplement in the Cork Examiner in October 1967 describes that it was the post World War II years that really saw the major growth in car assembly. Since 1946, Ford had almost invariably taken around one-third of the car market total and an even higher share of the commercial vehicle figure. Since the 1950s, Ford consistently captured between 25 per cent and 35 per cent of the Irish car market, and between 35 and 40 per cent of the Irish commercial vehicle market. It had an impressive record – taking passenger and commercial vehicles together, it was the best market share of any Ford Company in the world. The Cork Ford Plant turned out the widest range of vehicles under one badge on the Irish market with some 14 different passenger models and a wide selection of commercials. The total Ford area covered 33 acres and the growth of the factory increased more than 200 per cent in the decade between 1956 and 1966. By 1967, it had about 1,000 employees assembling cars and commercial vehicles for use throughout the Republic.

When the Cork plant came to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 1967, it was a working celebration. Tom Brennan, who had taken over as Managing Director from John O’Neill in 1959, had persuaded Ford’s European Management to invest £2m in Cork. He believed this was necessary in order to bring car production up to the very highest standards prevailing in Europe. Tom Brennan had first entered the gates of the Ford plant in May 1922, when he was 16 years of age. In his first ten years he worked in various departments in Cork and was transferred to the works in Dagenham in 1932. His top appointment while in England was as Area Sales Manager. He rejoined the firm in Cork in 1955 as General Sales Manager and became Managing Director.

The man Tom Brennan chose to implement the expansion was a fellow Corkman, Paddy Hayes, who, some years later, was to succeed him as Managing Director of Ford of Ireland. The £2m was spent on re-building, re-equipping and modernising the assembly plant, which became not only the largest factory of its kind but also the most modern. Half a million pounds was invested in an ultra modern body-finishing department, with Europe’s largest ‘slipper-dip’ immersion under-coating tank guaranteeing a high-quality base for final paint coatings. The remainder of the assembly plant was completely re-organised, re-equipped and re-housed in new light-alloy, unitary construction buildings covering an area of over 117,000 square feet. This meant two separate final-assembly lines, one for heavy commercial vehicles and the second and major unit for passenger and light commercial vehicles. Incorporated in the new facilities was a parts-and-accessories building holding millions of parts, representing a stock of over 23,000 separate items. The factory extensions virtually reversed the plant orientation since the previous wharf-side entrance was closed and all traffic now entered by Centre Park Road- known locally as Ford’s Road.

The official opening ceremony of the new buildings took place on 11 October 1967. The Taoiseach Jack Lynch, headed the 350 guests at the Marina Plant in the morning and there he cut a tape to symbolise the opening of the modern plant. The plant was blessed by Bishop Lucey. The Taoiseach who was accorded a military guard of honour, and the guests were taken on a short tour of the factory culminating in seeing completed cars driven off the assembly lines. Both were attended to by Thomas Brennan, the Managing Director and Ballincollig born Sir Patrick Hennessy, Chairman of Ford Motor Company, England and Chairman of Henry Ford & Son Ltd. He was educated at Christ Church School in Cork and served in World War I. Joining the new tractor factory in Cork after demobilisation he rose rapidly from his job in the foundry to become production manager and travelled extensively in Europe.

When Fords started in Dagenham Patrick joined them there as Purchase Manager and became General Manager just before the outbreak of the 1939 war. He served on the advisory council of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, and helped in the production of 34,000 RR Merlin engines for the RAF. For his services he was knighted in 1941. When the war ended he joined the board of the Ford Motor Company, became Managing Director in 1948, Deputy Chairman in 1950 and Chairman in April 1956.

To be continued…

 

Caption:

750a. An Taoiseach, Jack Lynch TD cutting the tape with Mr Tom Brennan, Managing Director, and Bishop Lucey on left and Lord Mayor, Pearse Wyse TD on right (source: Cork City Library)