The end of the Ford production line was the end of an era for Cork

After 67 years as an anchor employer at the Marina, a perfect storm of mounting losses, a hard recession, and the ending of tariffs on car assembly, meant the Irish plant had to close in 1984.

By the time the 1980’s dawned, Ford’s links with Cork had been embedded for more than 60 years and generations of families had obtained employment there.

But the city and its people never lost their sense of gratitude to the company, and the shared memory of the insecurities of the era pre-1917, when Henry Ford announced his plan for a Marina factory, remained buried in the psyche.