Mitsubishi man who settled at Ford’s ancestral site

LISSELAN ESTATE was purchased in 1990 by David Blackburn, who made considerable investment in the property, not least in the dairy farm which is now for sale.

It’s a subtle irony that Lisselan Estate includes the Henry Ford ancestral site — because much of the Blackburn family’s wealth derives from the Mitsubishi motors franchise in Britain. In 2008, David Blackburn sold his stake in the franchise back to the Mitsubishi Corporation. He now spends his time between the Turks and Caicos Islands, Ireland, Germany and Britain.

David Blackburn also held the Mitsubishi franchise in southern Ireland; the group’s former showroom on Lapp’s Quay is now the Howard Holdings’ City Quarter scheme, which houses the Irish Examiner offices.